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iTtfE RINCON 
h RANCH 

: By^ H • S • CANFIELD 






THE LI8RARY OF 
COf+GRESS, 
T'vo Cowea Reosjved 


SEP. 16 1902 



copy 8. 


Copyright, 1902, by 

The Century Co. 

Published October, 1903 


the devinne press 



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ANDREW JACKSON MURFF, JR., 
OF SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA, 
THIS TALE IS TOLD BY ONE 
WHO USED TO BE A BOY 


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CONTENTS 


CHAPTER page 

I The Departure from the City . 3 

II An Early Morning Battle in the 

Chaparral 24 

III A Cattle Round-up on the 

Prairie 44 

IV A Case of the Biter Bitten . . 60 

V A Robbery of Sweets 81 

VI The Chase of the Mustangs . . 97 

VII Horsemanship and Cowmanship . 116 
VIII An Hour by the Swimming-hole . 133 

IX A Feathered Dandy and Idler . 150 

X Visiting an Outlying Sheep- camp 165 

XI In Camp as Pecan-hunters . . . 180 

XII The Noble Science of Woodcraft 194 

XIII A Tearing Ride through the 

Chaparral 215 

XIV Good-by to the Ranch of the 

^^CiRCLE R” 234 

vil 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

The black sprang straight upward five feet 

in the clear Frontispiece 

Carlyle^s French Revolution/^ and ^^The 

Black Avenger of the Spanish Main . 5 

On the banks of a clear stream, camp was 


pitched 21 

The battle in the chaparral 37 


The tarantula and the ^^tarantula-hawk ’’ . 65 

Donald and Juan hunt the armadillo in the 


chaparral 199 

The chase of the peccary 227 



Uv 



4 


THE BOYS OF THE 
KIYCON RANCH 



THE BOYS OF THE 
EINCOI^ EAI^CH 


CHAPTEE I 

THE DEPARTUBE FROM THE CITY 

M bs. heneietta lucy ceu- 

GEE, wife of a wealthy and promi- 
nent banker of New York City, called to 
her two sons, Ealph and Donald: 

“Boys, come here! I have news for 
yon.” 

Ealph, sixteen years old, slender, long- 
legged, pale, and narrow of chest, was 
doubled in a big chair in the adjacent 
library, deep in the second volume of Car- 
lyle’s “History of the French Eevolu- 
tion.” He did not understand one half of 


3 


The Boys of the Rineon Ranch 

it, nor appreciate the other half, but it was 
his fashion to pretend a tremendous inter- 
est. A boy only fourteen years old, who 
attended the same fashionable school, had 
read the book, and talked much about it. 
So he answered not at all to his mother’s 
call. Donald, aged thirteen, like his bro- 
ther in build and face, was curled in 
another chair. His nose was within three 
inches of a thin volume bought in a second- 
hand book-store downtown. When not 
reading it in safety, he kept it hidden in 
the bosom of his shirt. It was called “ Sea 
Wolf; or. The Black Avenger of the Span- 
ish Main.” Only eight persons were killed 
in the first chapter, but it got better as it 
went on. Just then the Avenger ” had 
captured Panama with a boat-load of assis- 
tants, defeating two thousand Spanish sol- 
diers, and was cavorting through the main 
street with a pistol in each hand and a cut- 
las between his teeth, picking off dukes 
and captains of the guard. In justice to 
Donald it must be said that he did not 
4 



“Carlyle’s ‘french revolution,’ and ‘the black avenger of 

THE SPANISH MAIN.’ ” 





The Departure from the City 

hear his mother. He would not have 
heard a salvo of artillery. 

She called again: 

“ Kalph ! Donald ! Come here ! ” 

There was more positiveness in her 
voice. She was a woman of firmness, and 
governed her big boys as well as she could. 
Necessarily she was shut out from much 
of their sport, and was compelled to de- 
pend upon their assertions for knowledge 
of how they spent their spare time. This 
was not doing them any good. Their fa- 
ther, a big, good-natured, busy man, saw 
them only in the evening hour, and not 
always then. His theory was that “ boys 
will be boys,” and, properly fed and 
clothed, will come out all right in the end. 
This was not doing them any good, either. 
The added sharpness in the tone pierced 
through the Carlyle mists, and Ralph rose 
with a sigh of relief, though he would 
have denied that it was anything of the 
kind. He walked across the room and 
yanked his smaller brother from the chair. 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

“Wake up, kid! ” he said. “ The mo- 
ther ’s calling. The ‘ Black Avenger ’ is 
a dead one, anyhow. Why ’n’t you read 
‘ Treasure Island’? Old John Silver was 
a daisy.” 

Donald glanced resentfully at him, but 
rammed the “ Sea Wolf ” under the chair- 
cushion in silence. A moment later they 
stood before Mrs. Cruger in a small room 
she had fitted up as her own sitting-room, 
so that she might be near to her hus- 
band in the evening. A pleasant, grave- 
faced lady, with a decided chin and 
gentle brown eyes. She smiled at the 
boys, and beckoned them to her. They 
went promptly enough, for, albeit spoiled 
somewhat, they loved their mother very 
truly. She put an arm about each, and 
said: 

“ You ’ve heard me speak often of your 
aunt Mary Downing, boys? ” 

Ralph nodded in silence. Donald said: 

“ She lives in Texas near the Rio 
Grande. The Rio Grande rises in south- 
8 


The Departure from the City 

western Colorado and flows in a generally 
southerly direction through ^N'ew Mexico, 
emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. It 
forms much of the boundary line between 
the republics of Mexico and the United 
States of America. It — ” 

Ralph said : ‘‘ Oh, shut up ! ” 

Mrs. Cruger smiled, and continued : 

You know, then, that Dr. John Down- 
ing, your uncle by marriage, who was a 
Philadelphia physician in excellent prac- 
tice, went to the Lower Rio Grande coun- 
try in 1880 , taking with him my sister 
Mary (his wife), their son Harry, then six 
years old, and all of his capital. He did 
this because of bad health resulting from 
overwork. He wanted pure air, quiet, 
and a complete change of occupation. 
He bought twenty thousand acres of wild 
land in Dimmit County, built a home, and 
began raising cattle and sheep. He died 
flve years ago. The venture proved to 
be a success, I think. Your aunt man- 
ages the ranch, assisted by Harry, of 
9 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

whom she is very proud. He is just your 
age, Ralph.” 

“Her letters are full of him,” said 
Ralph. 

“ V ery true. W ell, she has written to 
me, and asks that I send you two to spend 
a winter on the ranch. It is now the end 
of September, and the most delightful 
season of the year is beginning in that 
section. She is anxious to have you 
come. Would you like to go?” 

Ralph did not answer. He was think- 
ing of half-formed plans for the coming 
winter — theaters, lectures, dances for 
youngsters in their teens, automobile 
rides in the snow, ice-polo, of many things. 
He coughed slightly behind his hand, and 
his mother marked the cough. A shade 
of anxiety came to her face. Donald 
asked: 

“Are there Spanish down there?” 

“ There are many Spanish^descended 
Mexicans,” Mrs. Cruger replied. 

“ ^ Don Antonio Palacios de Garcia, 
10 


The Departure from the City 

governor of Panama, a grandee of haughty 
mien,’ ” Donald went on incautiously, 
‘ defended the town with all the skill 
and valor of a tried veteran, but his stern 
bravery availed naught against the mag- 
nificent daring of the black-browed — ’ ” 
Then he stopped in confusion, the blood 
mounting to his pale face. His mother 
looked at him wonderingly. Ralph snick- 
ered. She forbore to press an inquiry, 
however, because the business in hand 
was important. 

You ought to go,” she remarked mus- 
ingly, speaking half to herself. I really 
think that you ought to go. You are nei- 
ther of you so strong as I could wish — 
though you are stout boys,” she added 
quickly, to reassure herself; “yes, you 
are quite stout. Still, the climate and 
the open air would make you stronger, 
and I — I think that I shall send you.” 

There was much pain in her brown eyes, 
and her arm tightened about Donald, but, 
boylike, they did not see the pain, nor had 
11 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

they any understanding of what the de- 
cision cost her. 

They began a protest, but she inter- 
rupted them with: 

“ There, there ! I 'have talked over the 
matter with your father. He agrees with 
me. It is best.” 

These were bright boys, with naturally 
keen wits sharpened by education and city 
life, and they said no more. They had 
come to know that “It is best ” from their 
mother’s lips meant the argument was 
closed. She told them that they would start 
in a week, and that she would attend to 
purchasing proper outfits. They returned 
to the library, but, to save his life, Ralph 
could not become interested in the blood- 
thirstiness of M. Marat, and for Donald 
the fangs of the “Sea Wolf” had lost 
their point and shine. Gore dripped from 
the jaws of this ravager, and the howls of 
his fearful companions rang over burning 
Panama, but it was all flat and stale. 

The intervening days passed quickly. 

12 


The Departure from the City 

There were some tears and sobbings from 
Donald, but the parents were inexorable. 
More than once Ralph felt a lump in his 
throat, but he choked it back. Should a 
youth able to grapple with Carlyle boohoo 
like an infant? 

The boys surveyed their rough cloth- 
ing with a mixture of interest and con- 
tempt. They were pleased, however, with 
a small rifle and a shot-gun, and with a 
handsome camera, too. Two huge trunks 
accompanied them to the train. When 
their mother had seen them comfortably 
placed on a sleeper which would go 
through to St. Louis, she kissed them 
often, and told them that they must write 
to her every few days, which they prom- 
ised promptly, having no foreknowledge 
that they would do nothing of the kind. 

They reached the Mississippi on sched- 
ule time, raced across the State of Mis- 
souri, cut a corner off Kansas, and 
plunged downward through the wilder- 
13 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

ness of Indian Territory. They were 
interested, of course, in the copper-colored 
people with black eyes who came to the 
little stations in the Territory to see the 
train go by, and for the first time encoun- 
tered slain wild turkeys as an article of 
daily barter. When they entered Texas 
they began to inquire of fellow-passen- 
gers the distance to San Antonio. They 
were astounded when told that it was 
some hundreds of miles. Also they were 
disappointed, because they were getting 
tired. A boy, however, will stand an un- 
limited amount of riding so long as he 
has new things to look at, and they were 
fairly fresh when they reached the quaint 
half-Mexican city of the Alamo, where 
they stayed three hours, and Donald made 
himself ill with tamales and cliile-con~ 
carne^ which burnt the roof of his month 
dreadfully, and made him wish that he 
was back with his mother. 

Their destination was Cotulla, a little 
railway town in La Salle County, eighty 
14 


The Departure from the City 

miles south of San Antonio. They ar- 
rived at five o’clock in the afternoon of a 
cloudless October day. As they stepped 
upon the wooden platform of the station 
and saw their trunks tossed from the bag- 
gage-car, they were surprised by the light- 
ness and dryness of the atmosphere, in 
which there was not even a suggestion of 
cold. It seemed to both Ralph and Don- 
ald that their chests expanded an extra 
inch as this air found its way into their 
lungs. It had an exciting effect, too, and 
sent the blood faster through their veins. 
Green things were all about them. Even 
the grass had the hue which adorns Cen- 
tral Park in the spring. They knew that 
they ought to feel lonely, but they did 
not. Instead they were happy, and smiled 
at each other, though they had quarreled 
now and then on the way down. They 
had sent frequent postal-cards homeward, 
and thought that their duties as corre- 
spondents had been discharged. 

They were gazing at the fast- vanishing 
15 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

train when a round, pleasant voice, with 
a boyish ring to it, greeted them : 

“You are my cousins, are n’t you? 
I ’m Harry Downing.” 

They turned, and faced a youth taller 
than Ralph and much heavier. His shoul- 
ders were square, his arms long, his chest 
deep and arched — evidently a powerful 
boy for his years. There was something 
in his frank face which reminded them of 
their mother. Perhaps it was the eyes, 
which were brown like hers, or it may 
have been the resolute chin. The almost 
womanish softness of the eyes was re- 
deemed in part by heavy black eyebrows. 
His hair, too, was black, and curled mas- 
sively over his brow. The wind lifting 
these short curls showed a white space 
upon the upper part of his forehead to 
which the sun had not reached. The re- 
mainder of his face was burnt to a nut- 
brown, and through the darkened skin the 
clear flush of health glowed redly. There 
was an air of independence and self-reli- 
16 


The Departure from the City 

ance about him, of positiveness even, and 
no trace at all of embarrassment. He was 
clad in a light woolen coat of brown, a 
gray flannel shirt, and brown trousers 
stuffed into riding-boots whose heels 
were spurred. On his head, tilted aback, 
was a wide dark hat of felt, — a som- 
brero, — and about his waist a broad lea- 
ther belt with loops upon it, made for the 
holding of rifle and pistol cartridges. He 
smiled as he spoke, showing white, even 
teeth. It was inexpressibly debonair and 
engaging, this smile. 

Ralph, as became the owner of an auto- 
mobile and a student of Carlyle, was 
slightly formal. He had dim thoughts of 
reaching into a vest-pocket for a card. 
The eyes of brown, so like mother’s, 
caught Donald, and he stepped forward 
impulsively, both hands extended. 

‘‘Yes,” he said, “we ’re the Cruger 
boys. You ’re Cousin Harry. How do 
you do ! ” 

Harry shook hands vigorously, clapped 

2 17 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

the reluctant Ralph on the shoulder, and 
said, with a slight drawl: 

“Well, now, I ’m mighty glad to see 
you, and madre will be glad, too.” 

“ Who ’s that? ” asked Ralph. 

“Madre,” Harry answered in a surprised 
tone. “ My mother, you know.” 

“ Oh,” said Ralph, “ I tumble. That ’s 
Spanish.” Before Donald’s eyes floated a 
vision of the “ Black Avenger ” careering 
through Panama. He liked this cousin, 
and was beginning to like this country. 
“We will stop here to-night?” his bro- 
ther asked. 

“ Oh, no,” was the reply. “ The sun ’s 
an hour high yet. The wagon and team 
are here. We ’ll make Espia Creek by 
dark, and camp there.” 

Two Mexicans were called, and the 
trunks lifted into a stout farm-wagon 
drawn by under-sized horses. The Cru- 
gers climbed into a spare seat. Harry 
took the reins, and, by way of a level 
road, they entered a dense growth of 
18 


The Departure from the City 

mesquit which grew to the edge of the 
town. On either side strange birds were 
calling. The rich scent of late-blossom- 
ing cat claw made the air odorous. Yel- 
low blooms of the huisache hung over the 
narrow road. A bevy of slate-colored 
quails whirred up in mimic thunder from 
the undergrowth. Huge cacti, ten, twenty 
feet high, reared ungainly forms. The 
land was rolling, gentle hills and shallow 
vales, and swathed completely in its robe 
of green. Two miles from Cotulla they 
struck a small prairie, still starred with 
blossoms. Trotting slowly for a half- 
hour, they paused upon the summit of a 
low hill. Below them stretched a decliv- 
ity of easy grade. At its bottom, a quar- 
ter of a mile away, was a line of cotton- 
wood, oak, hickory, and pecan trees. 

That,” said Harry, pointing, “ is Espia 
Creek.” 

The sun poised for an instant upon the 
western horizon, sending long red shafts 
across the close-packed tops of the mes- 
19 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

quit, and dived as a swimmer to his 
plunge. Then the dark fell. Not five 
minutes of twilight intervened. This 
brought to the brothers a sense of 
strangeness. 

On the banks of a clear stream, camp 
was pitched. Preparations were simple. 
Harry unhitched the horses, and staked 
them out with long ropes, so that they 
might graze through the night. He built 
a fire of the loose wood lying about, threw 
three pairs of blankets on the dry ground, 
went to the creek and i*eturned with a 
bucket of water, set a pot of coffee to 
boil on the coals, from the rear of the 
wagon extracted tin plates, cups, and 
knives and forks, sliced some bread, and 
peeped into the pot. Then he unrolled a 
clean white cloth, and displayed the plump 
bodies of six quails that he had killed on 
his way into town. They were deftly 
broiled on the coals, and the Crugers 
were invited to fall to. The coffee was 
good, the home-made bread was excellent, 
20 



ii 




ON THE BANKS OF A CLEAR STREAM, CAMP WAS PITCHED 




The Departure from the City 

the quails were delicious. Everything 
was sauced with hunger. 

Wrapped in their blankets, the boys 
watched for a little while the hosts of 
brilliant stars studding a sky of blue- 
black. Then they slept more soundly 
than they had ever slept amid the muffled 
roar of city streets. 


23 


CHAPTEK II 

AN EARLY MORN^ING BATTLE IN THE 
CHAPARRAL 

I T was fifty miles from the railway to 
the ranch, over a road that was often 
not more than half a road ; but the horses, 
of mixed mustang and American blood, 
grass-fed, enduring and lusty, made no- 
thing of it. They seemed as strong at the 
end of the trip as at its beginning. Halt- 
ing upon an eminence, late on the after- 
noon of the second day, Harry directed 
the boys’ attention to a house of snowy 
whiteness, which nestled in a grove of 
live-oaks some five miles distant, although 
it seemed not more than two. It made a 
pretty picture, contrasting its whiteness 
24 


A Morning Battle in the Chaparral 

with the deep green of the trees surround- 
ing it. 

There,” he said, with both love and 
pride, “ is home.” 

“ Has the place a name? ” asked Kalph. 

^‘It is called Eincon Eanch, and our 
brand is the ‘ Circle E ’ — a capital E, you 
know, with a ring around it.” 

During the drive the brothers had 
learned not only to like their cousin, but 
to regard him with a certain respect. He 
seemed such a capable fellow, and, though 
to the full as boyish as they, had much 
self-poise. His views of life were larger. 
He seemed already to have assumed re- 
sponsibilities which are part of man’s 
estate. He talked gravely about the 
prices of cattle; the amount of wool a 
well-graded sheep should yield; the con- 
dition of the Boston market; the com- 
parative merits of Holstein, Hereford, 
Devonshire, and polled Angus breeds; 
the necessity at once of wise economy and 
of large liberality in conducting a business 
25 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

of importance. They were disposed to 
look upon him as one much older than 
they until he displayed an almost childish 
curiosity about their city lives, the cut of 
their clothing, their sports, ambitions, and 
the notions that come to every boy. He 
was also eager to inspect their weapons, 
and manifested the liveliest interest in the 
camera, the only one he had ever seen. 
When told that even Donald, at thirteen, 
was able to make a fairly satisfactory 
photograph of persons or things, he was 
immersed in thought for a while, and then 
said resignedly: “ That comes from living 
where you have advantages.” Master 
Ralph took occasion soon to state, in an 
offhand manner, that Thomas Carlyle was 
a great writer, and his ‘^History of the 
French Revolution ” an enthralling work, 
whereupon their positions were reversed, 
and Harry surveyed him as one far above 
ordinary planes. 

On this ride the young rancher showed 
not only that he was a good driver, but 
that he had eyes for everything above 
26 


A Morning Battle in the Chaparral 

them or beneath them or on each side of 
them. Plainly the life of the prairie and 
chaparral was an open page to him. He 
told them the name of each strange plant 
and flower. They added the titles of 
dozens of birds to their vocabularies. A 
long-legged mixture of flier and fowl ap- 
pearing suddenly upon one side of the 
roadway, and darting along it with tre- 
mendous speed, the Crugers asked simul- 
taneously for its name. 

That,” he said, is a paisano, which is 
-Spanish for peasant. ‘El paisano’ the 
Mexicans call that fellow. Americans 
know him also as a ‘ road-runner ’ or 
‘chaparral-cock.’ He is swifter than a 
quail on foot, but not so fast as a wild 
turkey.” 

“Are they good to eat?” was the next 
natural inquiry. 

“They are not good for anything,” 
Harry answered, “ except to kill snakes. 
They are high-born chieftains at that 
work.” 

He also introduced his cousins to a dozen 
27 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

differing varieties of hawks, from the small 
sparrow-hawk with blue in its wings, to a 
huge black prowler almost as large as an 
eagle and quite as savage. It often bore 
off young lambs, he told them. Reach- 
ing under the wagon- seat, he drew out a 
Winchester carbine, dropped the reins, 
threw it to his shoulder, and, with no ap- 
parent aim, tired. The great bird was 
more than a hundred yards high, and the 
usual strong wind of western Texas was 
blowing, but a single large feather, almost 
ebon in color, was ripped from a wing and 
floated downward to the road. ^N^ot wait- 
ing for the team to check, Donald sprang 
out and rolled in the sand. He was up 
in a moment, however, and stuck the 
feather in his hat, clambering into the 
wagon, dusty and flushed, but happy. 

Ralph looked on a little enviously. He 
began to think that being a learned and 
superior person had its disadvantages. 

“Did you expect to kill that hawk?” 
he asked incredulously of Harry, who 
28 


A Morning Battle in the Chaparral 

had made no apology for the miss, but 
continued serenely driving. 

“Why, sure!” was the response. 
“I Ve done it often; but I often miss 
easier shots.” 

The boys were specially attracted by the 
numerous forms of cacti, because in the 
conservatory at home they had been 
taught to regard these plants as costly 
and curious. Harry estimated them only 
as part of the general landscape, and of 
little use or beauty, saving only the broad- 
leafed prickly-pear, which, he said, con- 
tained much moisture, and was fed to the 
cattle in time of drought, the sharp thorns 
being first burned off in an open fire. He 
showed them the red pear-apples, half as 
large as an orange and elliptical in form, 
which grow on the ends of these leaves, 
and told them that when first eaten they 
were apt to cause fever, but once the fever 
had passed the person eating them wanted 
more. He showed them, too, the finger 
cactus, standing straight and slender, not 
29 


The Bojs of the Rincon Ranch 

larger round than a fair- sized walking- 
stick; the snake cactus, which ran along 
the ground like a vine; the rock cactus, 
growing in limestone crevices; the Span- 
ish dagger, most cruel of plants; the 
petalla cactus, bearing a small round fruit 
in its center of a deliciousness past words ; 
and the “ niggerhead ” cactus, round, 
woolly, and clumplike. Massed in with 
these were ratama, huisache, wild sage, 
catclaw, mimosa, and pepper, making in 
many places a thicket impenetrable to 
anything larger than a rat. Every vege- 
table thing, except the pepper, bore thorns. 
Harry said: 

The thorns are put upon all these 
things by nature, or, as madre says, by 
Providence. But for the thorns the plants 
would long ago have been destroyed by 
wild animals for the moisture they hold. 
Wetness is worth money in this climate. 
The pepper-bushes don’t have thorns, be- 
cause they don’t need them. They are 
hotter than fire. I get that — and a good 
30 


A Morning Battle in the Chaparral 

deal else — from madre. She says the 
thorns are God’s armor for the green 
things.” 

They found the ranch-house to be a 
low, rambling structure built of adobe, or 
slabs of sun-dried earth, each slab two 
feet long, a foot wide, and a foot thick. 
It was whitewashed heavily upon the out- 
side, and its roof was made of a water- 
plant called tule. This roof was eighteen 
inches thick and impervious to rain. The 
house covered a quarter of an acre, exclu- 
sive of the long veranda, or ‘‘gallery,” 
which, roofed also with tule, ran all the 
way around it. Standing in the door, 
shading her eyes with her hand from the 
bright sunlight which poured over the wide 
land, was a woman of middle age, her dark 
hair streaked with gray here and there ; but 
her face was unwrinkled, and it showed 
ruddily under the bronze, as did her son’s. 
The face was beaming now, and as she 
started rapidly toward them when they 
came to a halt, the visitors could almost 
31 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

have thought that their own mother was 
coming to meet them. She did not pause 
to greet them in words, but took each of 
them into her arms and kissed them ten- 
derly. Then she said: 

My dear boys ! My dear boys ! ” 
Harry stood by, smiling. As she turned 
to him, he put his arm about her with a 
swift little squeeze. The Crugers marked, 
during their stay, that their cousin’s atti- 
tude toward her was always one of love 
and deference, almost of reverence, yet 
had in it a half -playful protecting quality, 
as if she were at once mother and sister. 
Mrs. Downing, like their own mother, was 
not tall, but was active and gentle, with 
much the same hair and eyes. Something 
her son had whispered to her pleased her 
evidently, for she put a hand upon the 
shoulder of each of the brothers and 
marched them toward the house, looking 
first into one face and then into the other, 
and saying : 

You are like your father, and yet like 
32 


A Morning Battle in the Chaparral 

Lucy, too. Our winds will put color into 
your cheeks. You will be happy here. 
Oh, I know you will be happy here ! ” 
Two Mexicans, dark-faced, heavily built, 
and walking with the wide, straddling 
gait of the cow-hand, came from behind 
the house, lifted the trunks from the 
wagon, and followed them. Two more 
Mexicans unhitched the horses and led 
them to a near-by pasture fenced in with 
barbed wire. Two more took hold of the 
wagon-tongue and ran the vehicle into 
an outhouse. Four more, appearing ap- 
parently from nowhere, looked on appre- 
ciatively, their white teeth showing under 
black mustachios. A fat Mexican woman 
of forty and three plump Mexican girls 
laughed softly as they entered, and, com- 
ing forward, bowed respectfully. These 
were the cook and her handmaidens. 
Behind them a shock-headed Mexican 
boy of ten years stared with round eyes 
of jet, and neither smiled nor spoke. 
When Harry came in, however, directing 
3 33 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

the men with the trunks, he grinned stol- 
idly and retired into the darkness of the 
kitchen. 

The boys were taken to a large room 
whose walls also were whitewashed and 
spotless. It contained two narrow cots 
of rawhide, three chairs with rawhide 
bottoms, a plain square center-table upon 
which were books and a lamp, two chests 
of drawers, a half-length mirror of fine 
beveled glass, two small wash-stands 
holding each a tin pitcher and basin, soap 
and rough towels, combs and brushes; 
and on the floor, which was uncarpeted, 
were two hammocks, ready for slinging. 
At the far end of the roopi was a huge 
open fireplace, half filled with gnarled 
mesquit logs. By each cot was a strip 
of matting. Few but good pictures were 
on the walls. Two narrow windows, 
whose casings swung in solidly on hinges, 
looked out upon a side yard only four 
feet below them. The books were of 
history and travel. Peeping slyly at their 
34 


A Morning Battle in the Chaparral 

titles, Donald was inclined to rank them 
as lacking in dash. 

Dark having fallen soon, the boys were 
fed with brown bread, fresh goat’s milk, 
and curd with red pepper in it. This last 
was hot but good. Then, noting the lines 
of fatigue under their eyes, their aunt in- 
sisted that they go to bed, reserving her 
questions for the morrow. They found 
the rawhide cots smooth and springy, 
though a little hard, and they were twelve 
hours in dreamland. 

They were awakened at daylight by a 
cheerful hammering on the door and a 
strong voice calling. Then Harry en- 
tered, booted as usual. It was not the 
^^ew York hour for rising, and Kalph 
showed a disposition to remain in bed; 
but Donald hurled a pillow across the 
room, making an excellent shot, and he 
got up sourly. The breakfast was of 
eggs, mutton-chops, biscuit, and one cup 
each of strong coffee, the berry having 
been grown in Mexico. Then Harry 
35 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

showed them his room, which was fur- 
nished like their own, except that it had 
but one cot and held more books. Also 
it contained a handsome saddle and bridle, 
two rifles, a shot-gun, and a Colt’s re- 
volver. In the general sitting-room was 
a large glass case containing beautifully 
mounted specimens of more than a hun- 
dred birds, and another with specunens of 
the smaller animals of that region. They 
were the work of young Downing, who 
was a taxidermist by natural gift. 

Early morning and much of the fore- 
noon were consumed in inspecting the 
outhouses, the quarters of the Mexican 
hands, of whom there were a dozen, and 
the various sheep, goat, and cattle pens, 
as well as in talking to their aunt, who 
had many questions to ask. Toward 
noon Harry said : 

‘‘^^ow I ’ll show you our bathing- 
place, which I use all the year round.” 

He led them two hundred yards to the 
rear of the house, where, through a grassy 
36 



THE BATTLE IN THE CHAPARRAL, 



A Morning Battle in the Chaparral 

vale, ran the plashing waters of Pendencia 
Creek, twenty feet across and ten feet 
deep in the middle. Here the banks 
were nearly circular, forming a pool, and 
over it curved the huge trunk of an oak, 
which, as their young host said, made an 
excellent thing to “ dive from, or fall 
from.” Boards were laid along the edge 
of the pool to insure clean feet on coming 
out, and its lower border was fringed by 
wondrous lilies. The boys saw fish dart- 
ing below. They wandered down the 
bank a little way to where the under- 
growth was thicker. 

Suddenly Harry, who was leading, 
stopped and motioned them to be still. 
A peculiar harsh staccato call came 
from some bird in their front, followed 
by another and another. This was 
accompanied by a steady sharp hum- 
ming, which reminded Ealph of the 
noise made by a typewriter when the 
carriage is dragged over the teeth in its 
rear. Peering cautiously through a 
39 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

fringe of catclaw, they saw a small open 
glade not ten yards across, and in its cen- 
ter a huge mottled rattlesnake was coiled, 
ring upon ring, its wicked dark head 
raised six inches and waving , slowly to 
and fro. Its small eyes gleamed like 
carbuncles, and its tail vibrated so rapidly 
that the tip could not be seen. It was in 
an extremity of anger. Five feet away, 
its head lowered nearly to the grass, its 
bill extended, its wings half raised and 
sharply elbowed, a chaparral-cock hopped 
slowly up and down. A battle to the 
death was on, and the boys watched it 
strainingly, Harry with never-failing in- 
terest, the brothers almost in terror. 
They had never before seen the dreaded 
rattler. 

Like a flash of light, the snake launched 
itself forward, and its head struck the 
sward a good seven feet from the spot 
where it had been coiled; but with equal 
rapidity the cock had leaped a yard aside. 
No human eye could follow this stroke 
40 


A Morning Battle in the Chaparral 

or its avoidance. One instant the reptile 
was bunched, and the bird nearly station- 
ary. In half the next instant the reptile 
was at full length and the bird out of 
danger. 

It is the weakness of the rattler that it 
must coil before it can resume the attack. 
It endeavored immediately to re-coil, but 
was not fast enough. With a lightning- 
like spring, the paisano alighted squarely 
upon its neck, two inches below its head. 
The sharp bill descended twice. Then it 
hopped two yards away and uttered a 
squawk of triumph. The rattler threw 
itself into a spiral and struck blindly its 
full length. This it did twenty times, 
coiling and springing with inconceivable 
rapidity. Both eyes were destroyed. Its 
thuds were audible yards away. Always 
it hissed venomously. The increasing 
slowness of its motions showed coming 
exhaustion. Then, after a spring, it lay 
stretched for a second or two. In that 
time the chaparral-cock, which had not 
41 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

ceased to dance about and call loudly, 
fastened once more upon its neck, and 
drove its bill into the brain. There was 
a quiver of the long body — ^no more. 

“That was worth looking at, eh?” 
asked Harry, stepping into the glade and 
turning over the snake with his foot. 
The paisano instantly vanished. 

“It was,” answered Ralph, who was 
deadly pale and breathing in gasps. “I — 
I must write about it to our school so- 
ciety.” 

Donald, less impressionable, shifted 
from one foot to the other, inspected the 
dead snake carefully from head to tail, 
looked hard at the bushes in which the 
chaparral-cock had disappeared, and de- 
livered himself gravely of the highest 
praise of which he was capable. 

“That bird,” he said, “is the champion 
featherweight of the West. He is n’t a 
thing but a wonder.” 

Harry inquired Avith polite interest: 

42 


A Morning Battle in the Chaparral 

^^What is a champion featherweight?’^ 
There are strange ignorances when a 
boy, or man for that matter, lives many 
miles from a post-office and therefore sees 
no daily paper. 


I 


43 




CHAPTER III 


A CATTLE ROUND-UP ON THE PRAIRIE 

T WO weeks later there was a marked 
change in the Cruger brothers. They 
seemed bigger. Certainly they were 
blacker and stronger. They wore their 
roughest clothing. They were booted and 
wide-hatted. At the heels of each jingled 
large spurs. About Donald’s waist was 
a belt like Harry’s, with plenty of car- 
tridge-loops, though he had no revolver. 
It looked sanguinary, particularly when 
he filled it with emptied shells picked up 
from the range Harry had built for rifle 
practice. Ralph had gone a step further. 
He not only wore a belt, but under it a 
crimson sash, as was the custom of the 
Mexicans. They called it a hcmda^ and 
44 


A Cattle Round-up on the Prairie 

after the first day he called it a banda. 

Sash ” sounded effete. The boys lost 
no time in acquiring the commoner phrases 
of the Mexican dialect : huenos dias (good 
day, good morning, howdy), huenas noclies 
(good night), poco^ poco (go slow), poco 
tiempo (in a little while, directly), hastante 
(enough, plenty, don’t give me any more), 
manana (no hurry about it; better put off 
until to-morrow what you can do to-day), 
adios (good-by), muclias gracias (many 
thanks), and so forth. The day they were 
able to say, No le visf un caballo Color- 
ado f ” (‘^ Have n’t you seen a bay horse ? ”) 
they could scarcely eat. What did Car- 
lyle amount to, anyhow? What would 
the “Black Avenger” have said if he 
could have seen that belt with the gleam- 
ing cartridge-cases in it? They carried 
themselves with a freer air. They as- 
sumed a hardy, roving manner, like Mi- 
cawber when he determined to emigrate. 
Though not muscular, they were fairly 
expert in boy athletics, and learned to 
45 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

ride with ease. Ralph’s pony was a sorrel 
with four white feet and a blaze on its 
nose; Donald’s a bright bay with black 
points. Both of the horses were smoothly 
gaited and swift. The saddles were 
heavy Texas affairs and double-girthed — 
^‘cinched” Harry termed it. The pom- 
mels and cantles were high; sitting on 
these saddles was like sitting on chairs, 
more particularly as the stirrups of wood 
were five inches broad and covered nearly 
all of the bottom of the foot. They found 
this to be necessary, as in charging through 
the brush the thorns would otherwise have 
ripped the soles from their boots. They 
were specially interested in the bridle-bits, 
which were new to them — heavy, stiff, 
and of steel, with long down-dropping 
shanks to which the reins were attached, 
and steel curb passing under the animal’s 
chin. A strong man could have broken 
a horse’s jaw with one of them. They 
wore, when riding, leather overalls with- 
out seats, which reached from the instep 
46 


A Cattle Round-up on the Prairie 

nearly to the hips, and were fastened by 
straps to the waist-belts. These, too, 
were protections against thorns. Harry 
said they were ‘‘chaparejos.” They ‘‘rode 
the range” in the morning, seeing many 
strange and interesting things. Of after- 
noons they practised with the rifles, or 
shot quails or turkeys, or swam in the 
pool. 

At this stage their education with the 
rope began. Long, light riatas were 
given to them, and they commenced with 
endeavoring to throw the loops over the 
heads of the chickens and ducks about 
the place, to the unspeakable disgust of 
Jocosa, the fat cook, and her maidens. 

From fowls they advanced to sheep in 
the pen, and from sheep to goats, which 
were more active. It was here that, 
“ burning with high hope,” Ralph essayed 
to lasso a billy of venerable beard and evil 
temper. He beat the goat to and over the 
corral fence by a head, and picked him- 
self up with his mouth full of dust. The 
47 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

change the life had made in him was 
strongly marked by the fact that he did 
not sulk nor resent the uncontrolled laugh- 
ter of his companions. Instead, he tried 
to smile, walked firmly back into the pen, 
obtained his lariat, and came out with dig- 
nity, the goat paying him no attention. 
He was recompensed when Donald said: 
“ That was game, Ralph,” and Harry 
added very heartily: “You ’re all right.” 

Three meals a day were served at the 
ranch, but the boys found they did not 
come often enough. They ate vora- 
ciously of beef with pepper, mutton with 
pepper, kid’s flesh with pepper, venison 
with pepper, turkeys and quails with pep- 
per. They drank quarts of goat’s milk. 
They reveled in fresh eggs, butter, and 
buttermilk. They had costillas^ which 
are sheep’s ribs roasted slowly on a stick 
before an open fire; they had liuevas con 
savollas^ which are eggs with onions and 
garlic; they had tortillas^ thin un sugared 
cakes made from corn soaked soft in ash 


48 


A Cattle Round-up on the Prairie 

lye and baked between hot stones; they 
had enchiladas^ which are grated cheese 
and chopped onions on tortillas, with 
spoonfuls of red-hot chile-con-carne gravy 
poured over the whole; they had little 
round home-made cheeses, dried in the 
sun; they had rich sweet-cakes, baked 
by Jocosa, covered with pink icing and 
whole pecans stuck into the icing. These 
things were not enough. As became his 
superior age, Ralph held himself in, but 
Donald developed an unbounded taste for 
peloncillo^ coarse, moist brown sugar, 
which is made in Mexico, and comes in 
round dark sticks as thick as a small 
boy’s arm. He had always a chunk of 
this stuff in one or another of his pockets, 
where it melted. When his fingers dived 
into this pocket in search of knife or string, 
they came out dripping. He got it from 
the Mexicans, and, in return for it, took 
photographs of them all, their wives, and 
their rolling, half-clothed babies. The 
three obtained a “ dark room ” by entering 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

a deserted one-roomed adobe cabin which 
had no window, and closing the heavy 
door behind them. Donald made a pic- 
ture of Juan, the shock-headed boy who 
had grinned at Harry upon their arrival. 
Juan did not utter a hundred words in a 
week, but he had the virtue of being an 
admirable listener to any sort of chatter. 
It is probable that he did not understand 
a tenth of what was said to him, but this 
fact never showed on his blank wall of 
face. The two became companions, — the 
older boys making also a pair, — and it was 
funny to see them trotting about, Juan 
always silent and two paces to the rear, 
Donald always talking. He had an idea 
that, with a crew of forty just like Juan, 
it would be a good thing to attack and 
sack the city of Cartagena, liberating 
imprisoned countrymen, and slaying the 
commandant with his own hand after a 
fierce combat. 

One morning about the middle of the 
month, Mrs. Downing sent for the two 
boys and said to them : 

50 


A Cattle Round-up on the Prairie 

‘‘ Boys, to-day you will see a round-up. 
We are shipping a thousand head of cattle 
to Chicago. You will find it an interest- 
ing sight. You must start as soon as 
you have your breakfast. Harry, be cer- 
tain that they do not run into danger.” 

Harry said, Yes, madre,” gravely and 
respectfully. The horses were saddled as 
soon as they rose from table, and the boys, 
clad in full range toggery, felt, as they 
rode from the corral, that now indeed 
they were getting to be genuine cow- 
hands. At the pommel of each was a 
coiled lasso, and they sat securely, even 
though they lacked the swaying, easy seat 
of their companion, who rode, as the 
vaquero always rides, from the knee up, 
close to the saddle, practically a part of 
the animal. He told them that the Mexi- 
cans were already in the field under com- 
mand of their overseer, and that the place 
of round-up was only five miles away. 

They covered this distance at a canter, 
the sorrel, bay, and gray going hard 
against the bits. Swinging along, the 
51 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

fresh cool wind singing in their ears, they 
burst suddenly from the undergrowth into 
a level prairie two miles long by a mile 
wide. It was thickly dotted with cattle 
of all ages. Some were at full speed and 
bellowing, others walked sedately, but all 
were converging toward a common point 
at the center of the plain. Behind them, 
with wild, long-drawn cries, came the 
brown vaqueros, swinging loops of lariats. 
They tilted head downward, and snatched 
tufts of grass from beneath the feet of 
their steeds; they stood in the saddles; 
they rode with their faces to the rear; 
they crossed both legs in front of the 
pommels; they lay at full length upon 
their backs; they dropped the reins and 
rushed their horses, guiding them by 
knee-pressure. Five thousand beeves 
were on the plain, and as they grew more 
closely packed, a steady sound of tram- 
pling came from them, dust-clouds rose, 
and there was an incessant hoarse bel- 
lowing. 


52 


A Cattle Roimd-iip on the Prairie 

Finally, when the mass became practi- 
cally solid, and was revolving slowly with 
lowered heads, Harry dismounted and 
changed his saddle to an undersized “ cow- 
pony,” deeming his American-bred gray 
too valuable for the work. He instructed 
the brothers to remain at one side, a 
quarter of a mile away. The lowing of 
the beasts had frightened them somewhat, 
and they obeyed willingly. Assuming 
charge of the men, Harry ordered them 
to “cut out” a thousand head of cattle 
three and four years old. The next in- 
stant the entire force plunged into the 
mass. For a few minutes the boys could 
see nothing except, through the vortex of 
dust, the shifting forms of cattle, and men 
on horses. Gradually the air cleared, 
and one of the men appeared, driving in 
front of him a dozen beeves of the desired 
ages. He took them to a point a half- 
mile away. He was followed by each of 
the others, all driving bunches of like size. 
Gradually the mass grew. A cow bolted 
53 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

from the main herd and tried to join her 
separated brethren. She was chased back, 
the ponies sticking closely at her heels 
without guidance from their riders, l^ow 
and then one of the segregated beeves 
bolted and was pursued swiftly, with the 
never-changing result that it was forced 
back into its place. Always came cries 
from the men : “ Hoya ! Hoya ! Hoya ! ” 
Nearly a thousand head had been 
bunched, when out of the ruck came 
Harry, flying behind a powerful two-year- 
old bent upon mixing with the wi'ong 
herd. The pair had covered a hundred 
yards, and the pony was forging along- 
side, when it stepped into a rat-hole, and 
went head over heels. The boy’s body 
described a complete somersault. He 
landed squarely upon his feet, ran forward 
a few steps, stopped, and turned to the 
horse, which lay with its leg strained. To 
strip the saddle and bridle and call for a 
fresh mount was the work of a minute. 
Meanwhile one of the Mexicans had 
54 


A Cattle Round-up on the Prairie 

headed the steer, and another, with a pe- 
culiar expression of face, led forward a 
large black horse which at once riveted 
the attention of the Crugers, who had 
ridden hastily to the scene of accident. 

Its mane fell half-way to its knees; its 
tail swept within six inches of the ground ; 
its dark eyes were almost hidden by a 
tossing forelock; its sides shone like 
ebony. Round-bodied, deep-chested, 
small-limbed, iron-hoofed, with lean 
head, arched ribs and powerful haunches, 
it stood, a thing of untainted mustang 
blood, heir of the vast herds that once 
roamed the Southwestern plains: 

Wild as tke wild deer and untaught, 
With spur and bridle undefiled. 

“It is the only spare horse, Sehor 
Downing,” said the man. “It reached 
the rancheria but yesterday. It comes 
from the foot-hills of the Santa Rosas in 
Mexico. It shows the saddle-marks, but 
perhaps the senor would not like to ride 
55 


The Bojs of the Rincon Ranch 

it. He can have my horse, and I, Jose, 
will mount.” 

Harry felt the eyes' of his cousins on 
him, and several of the employees had 
gathered near. His resolute chin set. 

“]S'o,” he said; ‘‘I will ride him. Put 
on the saddle.” 

The horse stood quietly, which was a 
bad sign. So acts the confirmed bucker. 
He even unclosed his teeth to receive the 
bit. As the two girths were cinched he 
drew together slightly, but remained 
quiescent. Only his rolling dark eyes, 
each of them showing a half -inch of white, 
betrayed his temper. Gathering the reins 
in his left hand and pulling the slender 
head toward him, to block a possible kick, 
Harry placed his right hand on the pom- 
mel and deftly inserted his foot in the 
heavy stirrup. The horse was stock-still. 
N^ext instant the boy was in the saddle, 
his strong knees gripping, his left hand 
low, his chin slightly raised, his right arm 
hanging loosely by his side, his brown 
66 


A Cattle Round-up on the Prairie 

face pale but smiling. To his right wrist 
hung by a thong a heavy short whip. 

Throwing his head between his knees 
and drawing his haunches under him, so 
that the rider seemed set upon a pinnacle, 
the black sprang straight upward five feet 
in the clear, half whirled, and came down 
with his four legs wide apart and as stiff 
as iron bars. The jar of him shook the 
ground. Again he rose, and again and 
again, and each time he struck the earth 
with all the force of his great weight. 
Still the youth was immovable. Then, 
with a hoarse bellow of rage, the mustang 
sprang straight forward in bound after 
bound, whirled in swift circles, leaped 
once more, landing hard, then reared 
straight up on his hind hoofs, swayed for 
a moment, and fell backward with a crash. 
Harry had slipped both feet from the 
stirrups as the horse hung poised, and, as 
it started in the fall, leaped lightly clear. 
By the time the black had rolled over and 
staggered to his feet, the rider was once 
57 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

again in the saddle. He sent both spurs 
home, and the heavy whip began to rise 
and fall. Then ensued a struggle that 
was Homeric. The incessant bellowings 
of the horse, the thud of his flinty hoofs, 
the inconceivably rapid rise and fall, the 
height of the leaps, the rush of his de- 
scents, his widely tossing mane, the crim- 
son foam upon his lips, where the savage 
bit had gnawed, and, over all, the pale 
face and swaying flgure of the boy, made 
up a memory which will stay with the 
Crugers for many a year. From the as- 
sembled vaqueros rose deep shouts of 
“ Bravo ! Muy bravo ! ” Ealph felt sick. 
Donald was screaming he knew not what 
phrases of encouragement. Down Harry’s 
smooth chin a scarlet stream was running, 
jarred from his nostrils by the fearful 
impacts ; but still the spurs were clenched 
and still the muscular right arm rose and 
fell. With one last discordant bellow, 
with one last giant spring, the black stood 
still as if planted, trembling in every limb, 
58 


A Cattle Round-up on the Prairie 

sweat pouring from his scarred sides, 
conquered. In an instant two of the 
Mexicans were at his bit, and the rider 
climbed stiffly down. He drew a long 
breath, and wiped the blood from his 
chin. 

“ He ’s a good horse,” he said briefly, 
“but a child could ride him now. Get 
me your pony, Jose. You men will camp 
here to-night and hold the cattle. We 
start for the railway in the morning.” 

He was reticent during the ride home, 
but said that he felt no ill effects. He 
was much more impressed by what 
‘‘madre” would think than by the fact 
that he had faced and narrowly escaped 
death. 


59 


CHAPTER IV 


A CASE OF THE BITER BITTEN 

EXT day the boys saw the cattle 



A 1 started to the railway station, the 
drivers commanded by the majordomo. 
Harry concerned himself no more about 
them, saying that the head man would 
attend to the shipment and bring back the 
bills of lading in proper form. Return- 
ing to the ranch, the little party made a 
detour of five miles to the base of low 
hills to the southward, the young host 
wishing them to see Las Animas Springs. 
He explained that the name was common 
among Mexicans, who called mountains, 
plains, ranches, rivers, and lakes by the 
title. The words, in their vernacular, 
have the significance of ghosts or spirits. 


60 


A Case of the Biter Bitten 

and as they are strangely superstitious, 
they clap them on to many of their pos- 
sessions, hoping thereby to propitiate 
dwellers in the other world. 

Las Animas Springs were on an ele- 
vated table-land of fifty acres, which rose 
a hundred feet from the surrounding 
prairie. There were four of them, not 
twenty yards apart. The largest was ten 
yards across the top, and the water bub- 
bled so violently that at its center it was 
two feet higher than at the sides. Beau- 
tifully clear, the bottoms of these basins, 
made of bright sands and pebbles which 
shifted constantly into strange figures, 
were in plain view. The pebbles were of 
all hues, and the effect of their shifting 
and mixing was kaleidoscopic. ]N^ot the 
least strange feature of the springs was 
that each of them formed a fair-sized 
creek, and these fiowed in differing direc- 
tions — north, south, east, and west. The 
streams near to their sources were shallow 
and narrow, but widened out farther 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

down. Harry said that the high value of 
the surrounding lands was due to Las 
Animas Springs, which provided ‘‘per- 
manent water,” a desideratum with all 
stockmen who live in that country of fre- 
quent and prolonged droughts. 

The boys drank of the sweet water, 
and found it to be of almost icy coldness. 
They unsaddled the horses, and permitted 
them to graze on the damp, rich herbage. 
They noticed that in the bushes round 
about birds were numerous, and all sorts 
of insects came to the springs. Though 
it was a late autumn month, bees hovered 
over the tules which grew at the edges of 
the basins, and there were other winged 
things of which they did not know the 
names. Donald, who was never still for 
long, rose directly and followed along 
the bank of the largest stream, which 
dived swiftly over the edge of the table- 
land and wound its way through a mes- 
quit thicket growing below. He had 
been absent not more than five minutes 


62 


A Case of the Biter Bitten 

when the others heard him call excitedly, 
and found him gazing in wonder and 
horror at an object which was stationary 
in the middle of a plot of sand some six 
feet across. Donald was two yards from 
the thing, and was evidently unwilling to 
retreat and afraid to go on. Harry 
chuckled and said, “Tarantula!” 

The great spider, black and hairy, had 
all of its legs spread out and dug into the 
soil. Its body was slightly raised, its 
mouth open, and its eyes gleamed wick- 
edly. So spread it measured, legs and 
all, a good eight inches, but its body 
proper was not more than an inch and a 
half in diameter. Near by was a small 
hole in the ground, from which it had 
come to enjoy the sun. It had been dis- 
covered so by the boy, and, with the pug- 
nacity of its kind, disdained to retreat. 
The arrival of the other two served to 
anger it more deeply, and slight white 
froth appeared at its mouth. Harry said 
it was “ spitting cotton ” and in an ex- 
63 


The Bojrs of the Rincon Ranch 

tremity of rage. He cut a slender 
branch from a tree close at hand, and 
trimmed it of twigs. It was two yards 
long. With this he struck the sand 
sharply two feet in front of the tarantula, 
which instantly leaped forward, endeavor- 
ing to seize the stick. It was a grotesque 
object when crouching for the jump, and 
more grotesque when it landed eighteen 
inches away, with limbs all “ spraddled.” 
Again the stick struck the sand, and 
again it leaped. This was repeated until 
it had left the sand and was crouched in 
the grass. It grew more and more angry, 
and the froth came from its mouth in 
drops. Harry had intended to kill it, but 
suddenly changed his mind. He sank 
upon his knees, telling his companions to 
follow his example, and then pointed 
upward. 

They saw, hovering in small circles by 
the top of a mesquit-tree, an insect which 
looked much like a common wasp. Its 
body was black, its head of a rufous tint, 
64 



5 




A Case of the Biter Bitten 

and its wings a bright, gauzy blue. Evi- 
dently it had a purpose in view, for it 
suddenly darted downward until only the 
height of a man above earth, and then placed 
itself directly over the spider. It began 
circling rapidly. The diameter of the 
circle was not more than two feet, and it 
made, possibly, thirty revolutions a min- 
ute. Plainly its purpose was to bewilder 
the tarantula, which, quite as plainly, was 
the object of attack. The spider, almost 
immediately aware of its danger, wheeled 
and started toward its hole. It made 
only a couple of leaps, however, and then 
determined that flight would be useless. 
It stopped, reared itself until its body 
was almost perpendicular, opened its 
semicircular month to full capacity, and, 
using its hind legs as a sort of pivot, 
turned slowly, endeavoring to keep the 
darting wasp in view. It was able to do 
this for a while, as its circle was so much 
smaller than that of its foeman. Harry 
whispered breathlessly that the wasp was 
67 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

a “ tarantula-hawk,” and that the chances 
were a hundred to one that it would be 
successful in its attack. He was almost 
as excited as his cousins, and said: 

“ I Ve seen this only once before, and 
you never heard of anything prettier. 
Tarantulas kill stock for us often, and 
the ‘ hawk’ is our friend. Just keep still, 
will you, and give the little fellow a 
chance.” 

'No one had moved, but the Cruger 
boys thereupon became as graven images. 
Donald held his breath until his eyes wa- 
tered; then, remembering that he must 
breathe in order to live, blew it out in an 
explosive sigh, which did not affect the 
combatants, though Ealph hissed impa- 
tiently : 

Oh, turn your face the other way and 
blow a tree down, won’t you? ” 

Suddenly the wasp darted downward. 
So swift was the motion that the eye 
could not follow it. A moment later, 
however, they saw that it had missed its 
68 


A Case of the Biter Bitten 

aim and was again hovering six feet above 
its target. As it swooped the tarantula 
had sprung two inches up to meet it, and 
its mouth had shut together savagely. 
Then the hawk ” dived and missed 
again, and then it shot upward to a height 
of twenty feet and hung motionless. It 
was visible, of course, to the boys, but the 
tarantula did not see it. That venomous 
one was still for half a minute, then low- 
ered its body to earth and started for its 
burrow, not leaping, but rapidly crawling. 
It had traversed possibly a yard, and had 
regained the smooth yellow sand, when, 
like a bullet, the ‘‘ hawk ” was upon it. 
The onslaught was so swift and so unex- 
pected that the spider had no time to rear 
itself. The wasp struck it fairly in the 
center of the back, thrust in its long 
sting, and was away again. The effect 
of the wound was almost instant paraly- 
sis. The tarantula drew together con- 
vulsively when stung, straightened out 
its legs, advanced feebly an inch or two, 
69 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

and then lay still. A moment after it 
was dead. 

Donald started toward it, saying some- 
thing about a “ specimen ” and an “ alco- 
hol-bottle,” but Harry grasped his arm. 

“ W ait,” he said ; the show is n’t over.” 

The wasp had remained nearly station- 
ary above its dead antagonist, but now it 
descended cautiously, and, after one or 
two retreats, settled upon the body. 
Then, its wings making a buzzing equal 
to that of a half-dozen bees, it began to 
move the spider gradually toward the 
burrow. Inch by inch it made its way, 
now stopping to rest, now recommencing 
its toil with added vigor. It seemed a 
wonderful thing that so small an insect 
should move so great a weight, but it was 
done. Arrived at the hole, it began to 
dig into the body, and when it had made 
an orifice large enough to admit half of 
itself it became still for a while. Then it 
lighted upon the sand near by, placed its 
head against the spider, and, striving 
70 


A Case of the Biter Bitten 

furiously, pushed it into the burrow, 
down which it fell until out of sight. 
The wasp flew away, its task accom- 
plished. Harry explained briefly the ul- 
timate purpose of the affair. 

“ Tarantulas,” he said, “ are plentiful, 
and would do more damage but for the 
wasp you have seen. This wasp is its 
chief enemy, and slays thousands. It 
kills the tarantulas, not because it hates 
them especially, but because it needs them 
for nests. You saw the wasp sitting still 
upon the body? Well, it was laying 
eggs. When these eggs hatch, the 
young wasps will be inside the body, 
which does not decompose in this dry 
climate. They will feed upon the taran- 
tula until they are able to fly. Then they 
will go out, and the females among them 
will kill other tarantulas. Because they 
are so destructive to this spider, which 
sometimes slays human beings, nobody in 
this country ever interferes with them. 
A Mexican herder who killed a tarantula- 
71 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

hawk would be roundly abused by com- 
panions. The male * wasps are distin- 
guished from the females by being smaller, 
and their wings are of brighter hue. 
They do not hunt spiders. If you return 
to this hole a few days hence, and dig up 
the dead tarantula, you will find it to be 
full of little white wasps with their wings 
just beginning to form. You can, if you 
wish, watch the whole process. I have 
done it often, though I have seen the bat- 
tle but once before.” 

Ralph saw another chance for a letter 
to the school society, and Don remarked 
that the next dead tarantula he found he 
was going to put in alcohol whether a 
“ hawk ” wanted it or not. Remounting 
their ponies, the boys started homeward. 
They had ridden possibly three miles 
when across an open space in their front 
a jack-rabbit darted. Its long ears were 
laid back close to its skull, its great black 
eyes were bulging, it was running upon 
all four legs, which showed that it was 
72 


A Case of the Biter Bitten 

hard pressed, and its leaps were short 
though rapid, which showed that it was 
fatigued. A chorus of shrill cries in its 
rear identified its pursuers, and a moment 
after three coyotes burst out of the under- 
brush not thirty yards behind it. Pursued 
and pursuers sped across the opening 
and disappeared upon the farther side. 
The drama occupied not more than five 
seconds in enactment. Harry shouted. 
Come on ! ” and wheeled his horse upon 
the trail. The others followed, and to- 
gether they breasted the wall of under- 
brush in their front. They ran for five 
hundred yards, and then suddenly their 
cousin checked and threw himself from 
the saddle. They dismounted also, and 
he pointed with his arm. Looking out, 
they saw a bit of prairie surrounded on 
all sides with cacti and mesquit. On its 
farther edge was an old tree of the pop- 
lar variety, commonly called cottonwood 
because of the tufts of down which it 
bears at certain seasons. The tree was 
73 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

hollow, and near its bottom was a small 
entrance. Sitting within a yard of this 
entrance, and looking at it steadily, were 
the three coyotes. Their red tongues 
were hanging out and they were panting, 
but there was something stolid about their 
posture, which seemed to say that they 
were willing to wait a week, if necessary, 
but they knew that the rabbit would be 
obliged to come out sometime. Evidently 
the jack ” had found a temporary refuge, 
and just as evidently they were deter- 
mined to starve him out. They had been 
so intent upon the chase, and were now 
so intent upon the siege, that they had not 
heard the boys, though the coyote is com- 
monly one of the most wary animals in 
the world. Their backs were turned to 
the horses, and possibly the long heat of 
the run had affected their ears. Harry 
made no movement, and the brothers had 
ample opportunity to observe the little 
wolves. They found nothing attractive 
about them. Meaner-looking beasts they 
74 


A Case of the Biter Bitten 

had never seen. “ Hang-dog,” sneak,” 
“coward,” “cruelty,” were written large 
all over them. Of a dirty yellowish gray, 
small of stature and light of weight, with 
ribs showing through their hides and a 
generally unkempt air, they seemed a dis- 
reputable cross between a fox and a cm*. 
Harry waited for a minute or so, and then 
muttered : 

“ Those fellows are great on young 
lambs. They will even tackle a small 
calf if its mother is a little way off. They 
rob turkey-nests. They kill madre’s 
chickens when they stray into the brush. 
They are no good. Here goes ! ” 

He drew a Winchester carbine from its 
scabbard under his right stirrup-leather, 
and dropped upon one knee. His left 
hand stole out and grasped the bai-rel so 
far forward that the arm was almost 
straight. His right cheek cuddled the 
stock lovingly, and his brown eye glanced 
through the sights. The right forefinger 
curved gently and steadily. There was 
75 


The Bojs of the Rincon Ranch 

a sharp crack, and across the intervening 
green a coyote leaped straight up for a 
yard, and fell upon its back, kicking con- 
vulsively. The others were gone like a 
flash. They were invisible long before 
the emptied cartridge-case was ejected 
and fell upon the grass. 

Each leading his horse, the boys walked 
to the tree and inspected the dead robber. 
They saw upon the side of the hole in the 
tree a few whitish hairs, showing that the 
rabbit had rubbed hard against it in 
the hurry of his harboring. 

“The jack is a gentleman compared 
with this fellow,” Harry said, stirring the 
body with his foot. “We could take a 
forked switch, of course, and twist him 
out of the tree-hollow, but it would only 
scare him half to death, and be of no 
good to us. A very hungry Mexican will 
sometimes eat a jack-rabbit if he can get 
it, but I never heard of any other sort of 
human being willing to dine on one. The 
meat is pretty nearly all sinew and has a 
76 


A Case of the Biter Bitten 

queer taste. This fellow in the tree has 
made a game run for his life, and we ’ll 
let him go, eh ? ” 

They had traveled a mile when Ealph 
threw up his head and sniffed strongly. 
He had detected a faint but exceedingly 
sweet perfume in the air. He was not the 
sort of boy that asks questions, so he kept 
silence. A quarter-mile farther on they 
came to the cause. Here the chaparral 
was composed almost wholly of the shrub 
called the “ catclaw ” because of its nu- 
merous small thorns, all bent backward 
like a hook and sharp and tenacious. 
These shrubs, acres of them, were milk- 
white with blossoms, and from the blos- 
soms came the strangely delicious scent. 
The Crugers had never smelt anything 
like it, and it seemed to them that not any 
perfume of the great establishments of the 
cities could compare with it in delicacy 
and savor. It was strange to find so de- 
licious an aroma in that partly arid coun- 
try, in which were so many repellent and 
77 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

semi-savage things. The flowers ap- 
peared a recompense sent by Providence 
to atone for much of the rudeness and 
meagerness of the land. They stopped 
and breathed, taking their lungs full and 
expelling the air luxuriously, feeling much 
comforted by this free offering of nature. 

“The catclaw,” Harry said, noticing 
their delight, “is not a pretty shrub, but 
it is a good thing to have around. It has 
no special time of year for blossoming; 
the blooms come whenever rain falls. 
You are as likely to find all this part of 
the chaparral white in February as in 
May. The cattle eat it, though I am sure 
I don’t know how they get rid of the 
thorns, and the odor of the flowers is so 
permeating that it gets all through the 
flesh. Beef from an animal which has 
been feeding upon catclaw tastes just as 
these bushes smell. Some folks prefer it 
that way, but I can’t say that I do. I 
want my meat plain. Madre likes the 
scent of the yellow huisache better, but 
78 


A Case of the Biter Bitten 

the catclaw is my favorite. I have some- 
times thought that an adventurous or 
speculative man could make a fortune by 
coming here and distilling perfume from 
the flowers. He would have something 
delightful and odd, and the raw material 
would n’t cost him anything. Once upon 
a time a cousin in Philadelphia sent me a 
bottle containing a drop or two of attar of 
roses. It was fine, but not equal to this 
scent that we have around us now.” 

“I know the attar quite well,” said 
Ralph, but I ’ll take the catclaw every 
time.” 

As they rode through the low bushes 
in the warm sunshine, thousands of small 
bees, with light yellow bands around their 
bodies, hovered about them. Each of 
them, when it had collected its bagful, 
shot upward ten yards or so, and then 
darted away on a straight line southwest. 
The arrivals equaled the departures, and 
there was a steady interchange. Harry 
stopped and watched them critically for a 
79 


The Boys of the Rineon Raneh 

while. Then he turned in the saddle, 
pointed toward the Rio Grande hills, and 
said : 

“ ISTot a great way in that direction — 
maybe a mile, maybe three miles — there 
is a bee-tree. We can find it easily, I 
guess, and I vote that we go after it to- 
morrow.” 


80 


CHAPTER V 


A ROBBERY OF STYEETS 

J UST at break of day next morning 
Harry rapped smartly on the brothers’ 
door, then threw it wide and stepped in. 
He was booted and spurred. 

“ ^ Arise ! Awake ! ’” he said. ‘‘ ‘ The 
village cock hath thrice done salutation 
to the coming morn.’ ” 

He knew something of Shakspere, if 
nothing of Broadway. 

^‘What is it?” Ralph asked, digging 
his knuckles into his eyes. Donald had 
not stirred. 

“ The bee-tree,” Harry answered. “ I 
told the madre of it last night, and she 
thought that wild honey would do well as 
an ornament to the morning waffles.” 


The Bojrs of the Rincon Ranch 

Don instantly had one leg out of bed. 
Like ^sop’s blacksmith’s dog, he would 
sleep through the noise of an anvil and 
wake at the cracking of a bone. 

“Waffles!” he said. “Yes! And rice- 
cakes, too, and hot biscuit and hot light- 
bread and butter! Yes! ” 

Meantime he was hurrying into his 
clothes, while Ralph slowly followed. 
Outside the boys found a light road- 
wagon with two horses harnessed to it. 
Some of the hounds, seeing them, yelped 
mournfully from the kennel. A Mexican 
passing with a sack of corn, his black hair 
powdered with grain-dust, called cheer- 
fully, “ Buenas dias, sehores ! ” The 
ample form of Jocosa the cook showed 
in the low door of her kitchen, and she 
beckoned to them. Black coffee and tor- 
tillas were given to them. Harry came 
swinging a small tin bucket, and had the 
reins an instant after. 

“Honeycomb,” he said in answer to 
looks of inquiry. “You can’t find bee- 
82 


A Robbery of Sweets 

trees without it. We use it in trailing. 
The bee likes honey as well as we do — 
maybe better.” 

They drove straight for the acres of 
flowering catclaw they had seen the day 
before. A fat old pointer, which spent 
most of its time sleeping in the sun or 
snapping at flies, followed them for a little 
way. Then it pursued violently a jack- 
rabbit which leaped from the grass to one 
side of the trail. The chase lasted for 
half a mile in plain view, and with every 
yard the distance between pursuer and 
pursued increased. The rabbit ran with 
its left fore leg doubled nonchalantly in a 
crook, deeming three ample to keep it 
beyond the danger zone. Finally the 
pointer returned to them, red of eye, with 
its tail between its legs, looking up sheep- 
ishly. Harry laughed at it, whereupon it 
turned doggedly about and went home, 
its feelings much hurt. 

Over the white expanse of the catclaw 
the bees were buzzing and darting, though 
83 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

the sun was not yet an hour high. There 
were so many of them that they made a 
thin stream coming and going, and it was 
impossible to follow any individual bee in 
its flight. Harry noted the general direc- 
tion of those which left laden, and drove 
easily along, throwing up his head now 
and then to note the tiny dark objects 
shooting over him at a height of fifty feet. 
The boys saw that the wild bees flew as 
directly as a rifle-bullet and with great 
swiftness. They seemed to have an up- 
ward trend, and when three quarters of a 
mile had been traversed were out of sight. 
Curiously enough, by listening intently 
their humming could be heard. 

Harry continued to drive on until a 
good mile had been covered, then dis- 
mounted and hitched his horses. He cut 
a forked stick two feet long from a mes- 
quit, sharpened its lower end, then, going 
fifty yards from the wagon, stuck it up- 
right in the ground, placed a large piece 
of honeycomb upon it, and lay down two 
yards from it, watching it closely. 

84 


A Robbery of Sweets 

Fifteen minutes passed in this way, the 
scent of the grass in their nostrils, and a 
blue white-flecked sky overhead. The 
sun was uncomfortably warm beating 
down upon their backs, but they had 
grown used to it and did not mind it. 
Donald had found a bare place six inches 
across, and in its center a tiny hole run- 
ning straight down. He had inserted a 
long grass-spear for eight inches, and 
waited results. Directly the spear was 
shaken, and then hoisted mightily straight 
upward for an inch. He took hold of the 
end, drew it up gently but firmly, and 
clinging to its lower ond was a bug which 
looked a good deal like a worm, only it 
was white, with a horny head and pincers. 
This he had heard called a doodle-bug,” 
and “ fishing for doodle-bugs ” was a 
habit of Juan’s. Ralph watched him 
with deep contempt; but Don thrust the 
“ doodle-bug ” into his pocket, muttering 
that it was good bait for perch and he 
would use it that afternoon. In his pocket 
it became stuck to his half-melted pelon- 
85 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

cillo, from which it was afterward de- 
tached with effort and thrown away. 

Suddenly, diving swiftly from nowhere, 
a bee hovered over the honey. It was 
one of those bound for the catclaw bushes, 
but had found a superior sweetness nearer 
home. It buzzed for only a moment, then 
settled down to its work. Only a few 
seconds were required to fill its honey- 
bag ; then it made a half-dozen tiny circles, 
and shot upward and away. Harry fol- 
lowed it intently with his eyes. The 
other boys lost sight of it before it had 
gone fifty feet; but his keen brown eyes 
narrowed and he continued gazing. Then 
he rose, unhitched the horses, and led them 
onward, carrying his forked stick and 
honeycomb. They traversed a half-mile, 
then stopped, and the stick was set up 
again. This time a bee found it in less 
than five minutes, and the march was re- 
sumed. This setting and baiting of a 
honey-trap and the flight of the little 
marauder was thrice repeated. Ahead of 
86 


A Rohherj of Sweets 

them the boys could see a line of trees 
marking the course of an arroyo. Harry 
went to it without hesitation, and began 
walking along its banks, looking up at 
the tree-tops. Finally he stopped with a 
satisfied smile, and pointed at a dead cot- 
tonwood which, bare of leaves, twigs, and 
smaller limbs, rose some fifty feet like a 
crooked stained gra}^ column. Into and 
out of a round hole four inches in diameter 
bees were constantly passing. Laying 
their ears to the barkless trunk, the boys 
heard a murmurous roar inside. The hole 
was fully thirty feet above ground, and 
the first limb was only ten feet below it. 
The tree was three feet thick at the 
base, and its body nearly as smooth as 
glass. 

“What now?” Ralph asked. 

“ Why,” Harry replied, “ we ’ll smoke 
these fellows first, if there is a hollow all 
of the way up ; then I ’ll climb and chop a 
hole into the honey.” 

Ralph looked at the smooth trunk too 
87 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

large to be grasped by arms, and the 
large limb twenty feet above them, and 
smiled to himself. He had come rather 
to fancy himself as a climber, but ac- 
knowledged that that particular cotton- 
wood was too much for him, and suspected 
that his cousin was over-confident. Pay- 
ing no attention to the covert grin, know- 
ing apparently just what to do and how 
to do it, Harry walked around the tree, 
and on its far side, reaching to the ground, 
found a cavity a foot high and a foot 
wide; in fact the tree was merely a 
shell. In this cavity he placed dried 
twigs, set them to blazing, and on the 
blaze piled green grass, leaves, and a little 
moss. Up the tree poured a stream of 
thick white smoke. A great deal of it 
came out at the bee-hole; the remainder 
was inside, packed like wool. Returning 
bees buzzed about the entrance, and one 
or two of them made an effort to go in, 
but gave it up. 

“The hive is thick with them,” Harry 
88 


A Robbery of Sweets 

said in explanation, “but this stupefies 
them. No, it does n’t kill them. We ’d 
get beautifully stung if it were not for 
the smoke.” 

Ten minutes later all buzzing had 
ceased, and he remarked: “We ’ll get 
some honey now.” 

Ralph looked at him, then at the tree. 

“ Going up?” he asked quizzically. 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“When?” 

“Now,” with a look of surprise. It 
had not occurred to Harry that anybody 
doubted his ability to climb the cotton- 
wood. To him it was an ordinary matter. 

“How far?” 

“ Up to the bee-hole.” 

“ Sure?” 

“ Sure.” 

Ralph gazed at him calmly, impartially, 
judicially. “You can’t get your arms 
about the trunk,” he said. “You can’t 
get your legs around it. There is no 
hold for your hands. You have a certain 
89 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

amount of inertia to overcome. It ’s 
clearly against the laws of gravitation; 
it ’s against the laws of mathematics.” 

Harry smiled. “ Why,” he said, “ the 
thing is simple enough. I ’ve climbed 
trees that were harder because the climb 
was further. I might toss a rope over 
that limb you see up there, and go up 
hand over hand, but there is a better 
way.” 

He went to the wagon and got out a 
rope and a small sharp ax. The ax he 
thrust into his belt, but the rope he passed 
twice about the tree loosely, then knotted 
the ends. He stepped inside of the circle 
of rope, and brought it about to his mid- 
dle, leaning back hard against it. It was 
thus tightened against the further side of 
the tree. Ralph was astonished to see 
him start up, first hitching the rope a 
couple of feet higher, then, leaning 
against it, work upward with hands and 
knees. Almost he might be said to have 
walked up the tree on his knees. Soon 
90 


A Robbery of Sweets 

he was at the fork of the big limb, and, 
bestriding it, looked down and chuckled. 

There is a little knack in it,” he said, 
“but you would soon learn it.” Don 
meanwhile had wisel}^ kept his lips closed. 
He had seen Harry do so many odd things 
that he had almost come to believe that 
nothing was impossible to him. 

Above the boy’s head were other limbs, 
making the climbing easy. He went 
rapidly up to the bee-hole, took the ax 
from his belt, and began chopping. In 
five minutes he had an orifice a foot 
square. The blows resounded through 
the hollow tree and shook it from top to 
bottom. He let down the rope by which 
he had climbed, and asked them to tie 
a bucket to it, putting in a scoop they 
would find in the wagon. They did so, 
and he began to dig out the honey, bring- 
ing it in great luscious golden slabs more 
than an inch thick. The fluid dripped 
from the edges of the scoop, and Don 
stood under with his mouth open, trying 
91 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

to catch it, but only got some in his eye. 
When the bucket was filled it was low- 
ered, and another was attached. In this 
way Harry filled three of the buckets, in 
all some forty pounds of honey. It was 
of a beautiful clearness, the wax very 
firm and white, and it had in its flavor 
something of the perfume of the catclaw 
blossoms. 

“ There is a wagon-load of it up here,” 
Harry called, ‘‘but I reckon we ’ve got 
enough. Pass me up two of the short 
boards in the wagon, please.” 

They were sent up, and, taking some 
nails from his pocket, he proceeded to 
fasten them lengthwise over the orifice, 
leaving only the original round hole 
through which the bees came and went. 

“The Mexicans,” he remarked, as his 
feet once more touched the grass, “when 
they find a bee-tree, fii'st smoke the bees, 
then cut down the tree and split it open, 
taking all of the honey and breaking up the 
hive. If this is done late in the fall, all 
92 


A Rohherjr of Sweets 

of the bees will die of cold and starvation. 
At any rate, the hive is destroyed. Madre 
has always cautioned me against this. It 
is not only cruelty to one of the smartest 
and busiest of insects, but it is sheer 
waste. Bees put up a great deal more 
honey than they can eat. That tree is 
lin^d with it for eight or ten feet up and 
down. I can come back next season and 
get as much honey as, and as often as, I 
want. I have only to smoke the little 
fellows and prize off the boards. As 
you have seen, when smoked they are 
perfectly harmless. They can’t sting, 
and — ” 

Ralph jumped two feet into the air, 
yelled shrilly, and slapped wildly at his 
nose with both hands. Then he traveled 
swiftly in a circle, and doubled over, hold- 
ing to the projecting member. Tears ran 
out of his eyes, and he grunted, “Bee! 
Bee! Bee!” Two small brown insects 
darted away. Out of the orifice the re- 
awakened toilers were pouring angrily. 

93 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

They swung loudly about the tree-trunk, 
high up, not seeing their despoilers. 
Donald scampered to the wagon and got 
behind it. Harry took his cousin by the 
arm and led him in the same direction. 

“We can’t stay here now,” he said. 
“ They ’d eat us up alive.” 

The three hastily clambered into the 
vehicle, and Harry whipped up the horses. 
As fast as they went, some of the bees 
saw them and came straight. There 
were not more than a half-dozen of them, 
however, and they were beaten off easily 
by Don, who wielded his coat. Harry 
was busy with the reins, and Ralph was 
squeezing his nose. One insect had 
struck him upon the very tip; the other 
had driven in its sting over the left eye. 

“ Take,” said Harry, “ some wax from 
your ear and rub it on the hurts with 
your finger.” 

Ralph did this, and the pain was sensi- 
bly diminished. He looked ruefully at 
Don, and that youngster looked away. 

94 


A Robbery of Sweets 

Not for worlds would he have laughed, 
but he was only human, and a boy at that. 
So he gazed steadily to the rear and bit 
his lips. Ralph’s nose was swelled to 
twice its size and was a glorious red. 
His left eyebrow was mightily puffed. 
He knew that the tears had run, but this 
was because of the locality of the sting 
and not because of the pain. He tried to 
look dignified and to pass the matter off, 
but this attempt was a failure. Stopping 
at a clear, still spring to water the horses, 
he got a reflection of his face, and wisely 
tied it up in a handkerchief. 

“Now,” he said savagely to Don, “you 
can grin at this if you want to.” 

“I have not grinned once,” Don re- 
plied excitedly, “but goodness knows I 
wanted to. I looked away on purpose.” 

Ralph switched the conversation to 
bicycling in Central Park; but Harry 
knew nothing about this, and Donald was 
not interested. So the remainder of the 
drive was made in silence. At the ranch- 
95 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

house Jocosa made a poultice of tobaccoT 
leaves, and, though it smelled horribly^ 
Ralph bound it on to reduce the swelling, 
which it did. Next morning he showed 
but slight traces of his encounter. He 
attacked the honey viciously, feeling that 
he had earned it; but even then he was 
far behind Don, who was first at table, 
stayed until the others rose, and left only 
when his aunt refused to permit him to 
eat any more waffles. At ten o’clock he 
was found in the kitchen wheedling Jo- 
cosa into baking another batch, and was 
dragged out by the others. 


96 


CHAPTEK VI 


THE CHASE OF THE MUSTAN^GS 

T he three boys rode slowly down a 
gentle slope, the mesqnit-grass com- 
ing above the fetlocks of their horses. It 
grew slender-speared and close, making 
a carpet of beautiful and even texture. 
Here and there it was turning brown. 
Don said that it was dying, but Harry said 
no, that it was “curing.” He explained 
that this grass, like the bunch-grass of 
the [N^orthwest, “cures” on the ground, 
and becomes a fine article of upstanding 
hay with its roots still clinging. It saves 
the ranchman the trouble of mowing and 
building stacks. He went on to say that 
a horse which feeds upon it does not be- 
come large of abdomen like other grass- 
7 97 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

fed horses, but retains its trim shape, is 
powerfully muscled, and its coat shines 
like satin. It is very wonderful pastur- 
age indeed, superior in nutriment and 
effect to the Bermuda, or to the common 
American field grasses, or to bunch-grass, 
or even to the famed Kentucky blue-grass. 

“The Rio Grande country,” said Harry, 
“ is, of all countries, best fitted for horse- 
raising, and it seems queer that there was 
not a horse in it till the Spaniards came. 
Even the Aztecs, with all of their civiliza- 
tion, had nothing to ride. I believe that 
if they had possessed cavalry Cortez 
would n’t have got twenty miles from the 
coast-line.” 

The boys wei-e hunting for strayed 
“ saddle-stock ” or “ stock-horses,” which 
means horses broken, or half broken, and 
used in working cattle. In autumn the 
mesquit-tree bears a long pod of beans, 
which turns a rusty brown, almost black. 
These beans are exceedingly sweet and 
make excellent food. More than one 


98 


The Chase of the Mustangs 

man lost in the chaparral has subsisted 
upon them roasted, and they make a fair 
article of imitation coffee. When they 
are ripe, horses are fond of them, and will 
walk from tree to tree, picking such as 
they can reach. In this way a horse will 
travel from five to ten miles in a day, and 
is apt to stray from its range, just as the 
wild turkey will trot ten miles in a day, 
going from bush to bush bearing the 
small round pepper called chile patin. 
In the morning a trail had been found 
and followed closely by Harry, but it was 
lost at the crossing of an arroyo. Prob- 
ably the straying horses had wandered 
downstream for some distance. They 
were now returning to the ranch to start 
two of the Mexican trailers, who would 
stay out until they got the truants. 

They were so far west of the rancheria 
that the line of squat blue hills beyond 
the Rio Grande was in plain view. 
Around them were the mighty rolls of 
the prairie, green and brown to the sum- 
L. cf C. 


The Boys of the Rineon Ranch 

mits, like waves of earth and vegetation 
cast up and held stationary. A soft 
breeze was at their backs. On a rise two 
hundred yards ahead of them a horse 
suddenly showed, sharply outlined against 
the blue of the sky behind. It gazed at 
them a moment, its ears pointed forward, 
its fore legs wide apart, its nostrils flaring. 
They marked its long mane and a certain 
wildness and freedom about it. There 
was a dauntless liberty expressed in its 
pose. Even the Crugers knew instantly 
that it had never felt the gall of the sad- 
dle or cruel constriction of the curb. 
Then it wheeled as if upon a pivot, and 
was gone. 

Harry said softly, “Come on!” and 
leaned over the neck of the gray. They 
tore up the opposite slope, crouched low, 
with loosened reins and knees in-pressed. 
As they rose to its summit, almost invol- 
untarily they sent in the spurs, and 
Donald, tossing his right hand high, 
gave a shrill boyish cheer. 

100 


The Chase of the Mustangs 

A quarter of a mile away, and going 
like the wind, was a band of not less than 
twenty-five horses, and every one of them 
a bright blood bay. They raced side by 
side, their manes nptossing on the wind 
like armfuls of ebon silk, and the rolling 
roar of their hoofs was hollow as the 
pounding of surf. Two lengths in front 
the great sentinel stallion swept along, 
going easily, his powerful limbs working 
like some beautiful machine, and the 
others followed without balk or hesitation. 
Now and then he called to them shrilly, 
and one or more answered, assuring him 
that all was well as yet. 

Once Harry dropped his hand to the 
pommel and half unfastened his lasso, but 
shook his head and settled into the sad- 
dle. A half-mile was passed and not a 
foot gained. Then the mustangs wi- 
dened out as if at word of command, and, 
almost abreast, took in a flying leap of 
fifteen feet a dry arroyo which crossed 
their path. Harry drew rein, and called 
101 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

to his cousins to do likewise. Ralph 
obeyed instantly, but Donald checked 
only when he saw the great ditch yawn- 
ing. Once more together, with no increase 
or lessening of speed, the wild steeds 
swept up a rise and disappeared beyond. 

“It ’s no use to follow them,” Harry 
said, with some quickening of the breath. 
“We ’d have trouble holding one of them, 
even if we lassoed it, and I don’t know 
that we could catch them. Our horses 
are carrying weight, you see, and they 
run without an extra pound. I ’d back 
Tordillo [his pony] to run rings around 
any mustang between here and Saltillo, 
but they ’ve got too much start. We ’ll 
come back for them.” 

Riding homeward he told them some- 
thing about the mustangs of the South- 
west. 

“Not many are left in this section,” he 
said. “Hunting them used to be quite 
an industry, and they are thinned. That 
is the first bunch I have seen in six 


102 


The Chase of the Mustangs 

months. Probably it came from Mexico, 
crossing the river at any one of a dozen 
fords. Yon noticed that all of them were 
bays? The mustangs have a trick of 
breeding to color. I have seen bands all 
grays, all sorrels, or all blacks. Stranger 
still, they are sometimes of a single gait. 
]N^ear the Motte de Gallo there used to be 
a band of fifteen, and every one a pacer. 
That was the only gait they had, and 
there never was a horse after them fast 
enough to make them break their pace. 
Similaidy there was once a large bunch 
south of here, all of them trotters. They 
were not so swift as* the pacers, and when 
forced out of the trot broke into a lum- 
bering gallop, not better than half-speed. 
Even at that I dare say that any one of 
them could have gone a mile on level 
ground in less than 2.30. 

Mustangs in this section are larger 
than elsewhere, owing to an admixture of 
American blood. When General Taylor’s 
army was camped on the Lower Rio Grande 
103 


The Boys of the Rineon Ranch 

before the invasion of Mexico, many of 
his cavalry and artillery horses got away 
into the brush and joined the mustangs. 
That gave the wild ones bone. The 
members of that band which we saw 
just now were quite as large as the ranch 
horses, and two or three of them were 
nearly sixteen hands. We will try to 
capture those fellows, though they are 
not worth much in market. Five dollars 
around would be a good price for them.” 

“Why?” Ralph asked. 

“Well, they are hard to break to sad- 
dle, and they will not stay broken. You 
may ride a mustang for two years steadily, 
then give him six weeks in the brush, and 
you ’ll have to run him ten miles to pen 
him. Then rope him, throw him, bridle 
him, blindfold him, saddle him, and get 
on him, and he ’ll buck as long as he can 
get off the ground. They never lose 
their wish for freedom, nor their confi- 
dence in bucking. This stays with them 
through the third generation. A half- 
104 


The Chase of the Mustangs 

mustang is certain to be a bucker on and 
off during his life, and a quarter-bred 
will always buck when first saddled. In 
the fourth generation, however, they be- 
come good Americans, and may buck or 
•not, just as their dispositions may be.” 

Ralph had some romantic notions 
about mustangs, and put a series of ques- 
tions, to most of which he got negative 
answers. Were they fleeter than Ameri- 
can horses? Stronger? More enduring? 
More intelligent? 

“ They are not faster,” Harry said, 
“ because they are smaller. In horses 
the big ones will almost always beat the 
little ones. They are not stronger for 
the same reason. They are not more en- 
during, because no horse fed on grass, 
even if it be mesquit-grass, will go as far 
as one fed on corn, oats, and hay, though 
they are not so apt to become over- 
heated. They are not more intelligent, 
because they have not been taught for 
hundreds of years. There is a far-back 
105 


The Boy'S of the Rineon Ranch 

Arabian strain in almost all of our horses.^ 
and the Eastern peoples have been mak- 
ing a friend of the horse for centuries. 
In certain things, however, they are supe- 
rior to the American horse, because their 
wild life has developed these faculties. 
They both see and hear better, for in- 
stance. They have a much stronger 
instinct of locality, which is to say that 
they can find their way to and from any 
place much more easily and directly. 
They are hardier, stand exposure, hun- 
ger and thirst better. They are better 
swimmers. They have an acute sense 
of smell, which the tame horse has n’t got. 
That fellow which saw ns first came to 
the top of the rise and took a look be- 
cause he smelled us. Yon remember, the 
wind was blowing from us to him.” 

You said that you would come back 
after them,” Don ventured. “^‘Do you 
think we can outrun them? ” 

“We could if it were necessary,” Harry 
answered, “ and run them off their legs, 
106 


The Chase of the Mustangs 

too, since our horses are corn-fed; but 
we Ve a better way than that.” 

“ Traps? ” Don asked anxiously. 

“ ]SJ'o.” 

“ Shooting them through the upper 
part of the neck — creasing them? ” 

^o. Creasing was neyer any good. 
The creasers killed more mustangs than 
they captured.” 

How then?” 

Harry grinned affably. If I told you, 
Senor Don,” he remarked teasingly, “you 
would n’t be able to sleep to-night and 
you ’d lose that slight appetite. You ’ll 
know to-morrow, and I promise that if 
you want to help you shall.” 

Arriyed at the rancheria, Harry held 
conference with his “majordomo.” That 
worthy was pleased. After some talk 
and tales of former mustang hunts, he 
began counting upon his brown fingers. 

“ Fo’ ! ” he said. “ Eet ees ’nough. 
Gregorio, Trinidad, Jose, an’ Pancho! 
We go manana fo’ sho, no? ” 

107 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

^^ext morning the party started, the 
four Mexicans and the three boys on 
horseback. There was a wagon contain- 
ing an A tent, provisions, and corn for 
the horses. They drove directly across 
the prairie to a point on the range where 
the mustangs had been discovered, and 
made camp on the bank of a shallow creek 
which came suddenly out of the ground 
a mile above them and went as suddenly 
into the ground two miles below. It 
made its way eventually underground to 
the Rio Grande. There are many such 
in the Southwest. Three of the Mexicans 
staked out their horses, and all four of 
them, turning to, had the tent up and a lire 
made in a jiffy. One of them, Trinidad, 
rolled a pinch of black tobacco into a corn- 
shuck, lit it, deeply inhaled a mouthful of 
smoke, swung himself into the saddle, and 
saying, “ Adios, amigos ! ” rode gravely 
out of sight. 

The two brothers stared with round 
eyes. The Mexicans, in no wise con- 
108 


The Chase of the Mustangs 

cerned, set leisurely about getting dinner. 
Harry turned to his cousins. 

“The mustangs,” he said, “will be 
walked down, not run down. It is more 
trouble, but more certain. All quadru- 
peds in a wild state have a certain 
range. They are used to it, it is home 
to them, and they dislike to forsake it. 
They leave it only when food fails. If 
driven off, they are sure to return within 
twenty-four hours. Trinidad will find 
the herd of mustangs, and they will run 
from him. He will simply follow upon 
the trail, traveling slowly. A few miles 
farther on he will find them again, and 
they will run again. However far or 
often they go, they will travel in a circle, 
and will come back to this neighborhood. 
When they do, he will come into camp, 
and another of the men will take up the 
trail. He may have to ride for three 
hours or all night; there is no telling: 
but he will stay with them until relieved. 

“ In this way the mustangs will get no 
109 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

rest at all. After a while they will be too 
tired to run, and then we will pen them. I 
do not know how long this will take, but 
certainly three days and nights, maybe 
four, maybe five. It depends to a certain 
extent upon the spirit and gameness of the 
horses, and a great deal upon whether or 
not they can get to water. As this is a 
well-watered range, there will be probably 
a long pursuit. We will go home, and 
ride out from day to day to see how the 
men are getting on.” 

Ralph and Donald were for staying at 
least until Trinidad came in; so they ate 
their bacon, broiled by holding on sticks 
in the blaze, flat, heavy bread baked in a 
frying-pan, and drank black coffee out of 
smoked tin cups, then amused themselves 
as they best could during the afternoon. 
Moonlight came, and with it supper, but 
no Trinidad. Then, without warning, the 
mustangs burst over a hill beyond the 
arroyo, saw the camp-fire, and wheeled 
thunderously to the right, going north- 
110 


The Chase of the Mustangs 

ward. Apparently they were as fresh 
and speedy as ever. The Mexicans, sit- 
ting upon their heels, stopped smoking 
long enough to watch them philosophi- 
cally; then Pancho rose, saddled his 
horse, and stood waiting. In half an hour 
Trinidad came, down the hill at a gentle 
trot, stopped to water his steed, then 
saluted and dismounted. 

“ They are still running,” he remarked, 
loosening the girths. ’T is a fine herd.” 

Pancho stooped for a coal, lit his cigar- 
ito, mounted, said, “ Adios, amigos,” 
softly, and followed on the trail, at a walk. 

Going to the camp next morning after 
breakfast, the boys saw the herd of wild 
horses at a distance of half a mile, travel- 
ing at a fast trot. Fifteen minutes after- 
ward a solitary rider showed on their trail, 
and waved his hand at them. He, too, 
was riding at a trot, evidently determined 
to give the band little rest. His horse 
moved as if untired, and Harry said that 
the man was Gregorio. 

Ill 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

“ These mustangs,” he added, “ are not 
making much of a circle. They like this 
range. That being so, they will be pushed 
hard.” 

In the afternoon Gregorio came to the 
tent with the report that the herd had 
passed a mile away, showing signs of 
wear, and Jose went out. This was a 
light young fellow mounted on a big dun 
horse, and he had a reputation as a hard, 
bruising rider. He had not returned 
when the cousins went home. On the 
third day Trinidad was once more in the 
saddle. When he ended his “ spell ” of 
six hours the mustangs were breaking 
into a slow trot whenever he appeared, 
but dropping to a walk as soon as they 
were out of sight. He was never more 
than a mile behind them. Pancho re- 
lieved him, and rode until ten o’clock that 
night, when Gregorio went out, and kept 
up the pursuit till daylight. Again it 
became Jose’s turn, who told them at two 
in the afternoon that another twenty-four 
112 


The Chase of the Mustangs 

hours of ceaseless going would finish the 
fugitives. They had drunk frequently, 
but for two days had snatched only a 
mouthful of grass here and there, and 
would often lie down from fatigue and 
lack of sleep. He had ridden within a 
hundred yards of them, and they had only 
broken into a short jog-trot. 

In the forenoon of the fifth day all four 
of the Mexicans went after the herd, the 
boys with them. The mustangs were 
in truly pitiable condition, their flanks 
sunken, their heads hanging nearly to 
their knees, dried sweat upon them in 
flakes, their eyes red, their steps stum- 
bling. The old stallion, still in the lead, 
his black forelock hanging to his nostrils, 
shuffled along, and after him trailed his 
exhausted followers. They had no speed 
in them; their spirit was utterly broken. 
Riding close to them, Trinidad whirled 
his doubled lariat and brought it down 
upon the back of the rearmost. The 
horse trotted lamely for a yard or 
8 113 


The Bojs of the Rincon Ranch 

two, then relapsed into its patient, slow 
walk. 

A mile away was Altita pen, built of 
uprights and brushwood, inclosing half 
an acre of level ground. It was used in 
corralling the wilder “ stock-horses.” To 
this the herd was driven. It went with- 
out resistance, no member of it trying to 
break away. Once inside, the bars were 
put up and fodder was tossed over the 
fence. In its center was a huge wooden 
trough filled with water. Not a mustang 
drank or offered to touch the food. One 
and all, they lay down upon the bare 
earth, their sides heaving. Their ribs 
showed plainly through the skin, though 
five days back they had been fat. 

“ They ’ll be all right to-morrow,” 
Harry said as they rode away, “ and the 
breaking will begin. They will be sold 
to drovers, all except their leader, who 
will be set free. He is old and untamable, 
and of no use to anybody.” 

114 


The Chase of the Mustangs 

“ AVill he gather another herd? ” Ralph 
asked. 

Only if he is strong enough to whip 
its stallion; but he will tiy.” 

“ I feel, somehow,” said Don, as if he 
had not been fairly treated, and I hope 
that he ’ll gather a family.” 

“ That is natural ; but how about the 
one he whips?” 

There was no answer to this. 


CHAPTER VII 


HORSEMANSHIP AND COWMANSHIP 

I DON’T know what particular saint’s 
day it is,” Harry said; “they have 
nearly three hundred and sixty-five in 
a year: but the Mexicans are holding a 
fiesta at Encinal. Would you like to see 
it? ” 

“We should, very much,” said Ralph; 
“ and what is a fiesta? ” 

“A fiesta is a feast, or, as we would 
translate it, a fair, though it has few fea- 
tures of a country fair about it. There 
are no fat live stock, big chickens, pump- 
kins, and garden-sass exhibited. There 
are booths, however, stalls wherein things 
are sold, restaurants under canvas, horse- 
racing, dancing, and so forth. Encinal, 
116 


Horsemanship and Cownianship 

which is a little bit of a town in a thick 
cactus country, is a good forty miles from 
here, but we can ride it easily in less than 
a day, stay with some of my Mexican 
acquaintances, and come back two days 
later.” 

Ralph and Donald found that the most 
interesting thing about the fiesta was the 
people they saw there. Some few Amer- 
ican ranchmen lounged about with their 
wives and daughters, Init in mass the men 
and women were olive-skinned, black- 
haired, and jetty-eyed. They came not 
only from the neighboring country, but 
from far into Mexico. There were Coa- 
huila Mexicans, Nuevo Leon Mexicans, 
and Tamaulipas Mexicans, differing con- 
siderably from each other, but all bent on 
having a good time. Fat babies with not 
too many clothes rolled in the sand of the 
plaza. Slender small maidens, their heads 
swathed in mantillas, moved lightly about, 
or danced to the sound of castanets. 
There was a musical band, and all of the 
117 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

instruments were guitars, eight of them. 
One guitar was seven feet high and two 
feet across the bottom. Another had 
thirty-two strings. They made very good 
music. In the booths were goods of 
Mexican hand-make: saddles, hair ropes 
and bridles, gaudy blankets, heavily tin- 
seled sombreros of wool and straw, mor- 
als^ which are nose-bags to hold horse- 
feed, red, blue, and green pictures of 
saints, specimens of beautiful drawn- 
work in linen, and all sorts of dulces^ 
sweet things in cakes and candies. At 
one of these places Don wrecked himself 
and had the stomach-ache all night. The 
dances were held in a stockade sixty feet 
square, made of mesquit poles ten feet 
long driven upright into the ground, and 
the dancers danced on the bare earth to 
the thrumming of the guitars, with the red 
light of torches flaring on them; very 
graceful and inspiring dances they were, 
and entirely innocent. One huge tent 
was devoted to loteria^ a complicated 
118 


Horsemanship and Cowmanship 

form of keno, where everybody, grand- 
mothers and grandfathers, husbands and 
wives, maidens and youths and little chil- 
dren, gambled for medios^ silver coins 
worth six and a quarter cents. 

Gregorio, of the Rincon ranch, was 
there and had set up a tent. In this the 
boys slept on hay, wrapped in their blan- 
kets, and were waked at daylight by 
Mexicans nasally singing the morning 
hymn. Gregorio was in fine feather. 
He was a little bandy-legged chap with 
great black mustachios, and his hat, cov- 
ered with gilt tinsel from rim to crown, 
was nearly a yard across the brim. A 
brilliant yellow banda was about his mid- 
dle; his short round jacket was of black 
velvet trimmed with silver; his trousers, 
fitting him as if his legs had been melted 
and poured into them, were of crimson 
velvet, and gold buttons ran down the 
outer seam; his boots were like mirrors; 
the rowels of his brass spurs were two 
inches in diameter. With Harry he 
119 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

habitually spoke his Spanish patois, but 
his wonderful English was exercised for 
the benefit of the Cruger lads. 

“Eet ees to me fo’ de honah hof el 
rancho Rincon to be here,” he would say — 
^‘to me, Gregorio Francisco Antonio 
Ramon Jesus Maria Pablo Luis Garza. 
Trin’dad, Pancho, Juan Salazar, dey haf 
fear to come. Eet ees to me fo’ de rope 
contes’ an’ de vaquero ridin’. Yo’ bet on 
me, no? No be ’fraid fo’ me! I haf 
Gruya!” 

He referred to a big blue horse which 
he owned and worshiped. 

“We won’t bet on you, Gregorio,” 
Harry said. “ Ralph and I don’t bet, and 
Don is broke. But we ’ll watch you and 
whoop for you, and tell all of the girls at 
the ranch about you when we get back.” 

“ ’T ees well,” the little rider answered, 
puffing out his cheeks and striking an 
attitude with his hands on his hips; “but 
I ween sho’, me. Gruya ees here ! ” 

The riding contest was announced for 
120 


Horsemanship and Cowmanship 

the morning, the roping contest for the 
afternoon. It was to see these events 
mainly that the boys had come. The 
riding course was a hundred yards long 
and thirty yards wide, over firm turf. 
There were twenty contestants, some 
natives of Texas, some of Mexico, and 
much rivalry had developed. The con- 
test consisted wholly of trick or 
fancy ” riding. Any man of them was 
able to sit the worst bucker that ever 
came off the ranges, so merely unbroken 
horses were barred. The boys saw feats 
of horsemanship that they would not 
otherwise have believed to be possible. 
Men rode at full speed in the hard, smooth, 
high-pommeled, high-cantled saddles, 
sometimes with, sometimes without, stir- 
rups; they rode with faces to the front 
or rear; they rode at full length on 
stomach or back, their hands in the air; 
they rode swinging far down to the side, 
holding by right heel to cantle and left 
hand to mane, Comanche fashion; they 
121 


The Boys of the Rineon Raiieh 

rode standing up on two feet, or on one; 
they swung downward in full career and 
snatched hats, handkerchiefs, and finally 
silver dollars, from the ground ; they 
leaped to earth with their horses tearing 
past, and, holding to pommel or mane, 
leaped lightly back to their seats with- 
out apparent effort. It was magnificent 
horsemanship, but there were degrees of 
it, and the contest soon narrowed down 
to three who in skill, grace, and strength 
were manifestly superior. Gregorio, alas ! 
was not one of these. He had come to 
grief in the dollar test, his brilliantly 
spurred heel slipping from the cantle. 
He had rolled head over heels a few 
times, then got up unhurt, dusted his 
velvet breeches, and consoled himself by 
announcing loudly: ‘‘Eet ees to me fo’ 
de rope contes’.” 

Of the three remaining contestants one 
was from Monterey, one from Piedras 
^^egras, Mexico, and the third was a 
Texan named Juan Moro, from Za- 
122 


Horsemanship and Cowmanship 

valla County. A line was drawn across 
the course, and the competitors were 
reqnii*ed to ride at it at full speed, and 
stop their horses on its farther side as 
soon as might be, the one stopping within 
the shortest space to be declared winner. 
Like bullets the men went by, and, as the 
fore feet of their steeds crossed the line, 
swayed far back upon the bits. The 
horse of the man from Piedras Negras 
went down upon its haunches smartly 
enough, but slid ten feet; Juan Moro 
and the Monterey man both stopped 
within two yards. 

With but two contestants left, and they 
from rival republics, excitement became 
intense. The partizans ranged themselves 
upon each side of the course, and the air 
was filled with a babel of cries, exhorta- 
tions, and jeers. The supreme test of the 
day was at hand. At one end of the 
course a round post six inches through 
and eight feet high had been set up. 
The men were ordered to ride at it hard 


123 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

and go around it in the smallest possible 
circle. Lots were drawn; the Monterey 
champion won, and elected to ride first. 
His horse, a strong brown animal with 
fine legs, had been trained in every trick 
of the field, and looked at the post with 
an eye of recognition. He had been 
ridden in such contests before, and knew 
what was asked of him. At word of 
command he launched out, and, nearing 
the post, slowed up a trifle. His rider 
placed his hand upon it and swung him 
sharply to the right. He did his best, 
but half-way around was carried off by 
his momentum, and the Mexican, clinging 
desperately to the post, was snatched 
from the saddle, falling heavily. From 
the Texas side shrill vivas went up. 

Juan Moro had shortened his stirrups 
by an inch, and sat crouching, his eyes 
fixed intently on his target. !Next in- 
stant he was away, the reins tightened 
savagely, but the spurs deeply driven in. 
He reached the post, slapped his brown 
124 


Horsemanship and Cowmanship 

hand upon it, and swung so far down to 
the right that it seemed his body would 
strike it. As if standing upon a pivot 
and governed by springs, his horse whirled 
around it and made the circle completely, 
the hand never leaving the wood. In 
making this circle certainly not more than 
a second was occupied. The man and 
horse seemed literally to have whirled in 
air. The people were silent for a space, 
then burst into wild acclaim. The Texans 
pulled Juan from his seat and carried him 
on their shoulders; they unsaddled the 
horse, put wreaths about its neck, and tied 
bright ribbons in its mane and tail. Don, 
being from New York, was necessarily 
on fire for Texas, and, when his man won, 
rolled on the ground, kicked up his short 
legs, and screamed. Ealph grabbed him 
by the collar and jerked him upright. 

“What ’s the matter with you?” he 
asked. “ You ’re a Yank! ” 

“You bet I ’m a Texan,” said Don. 
“’Eah!” 


125 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

“ The winner is a Mexican,” Ralph went 
on, grinning. 

“ You bet he ’s a Texas Mexican ! ’Rah 
for el Mexicano Americano! ’Rah! ” 

It ’s dinner-time,” said Ralph, as a last 
resort. 

Don checked another yell and said: 

Come on ! ” 

The scene of the roping contest in the 
afternoon was a wide, level prairie. A 
large pen had been built, and in this some 
forty beeves were confined. A narrow 
lane or passageway had been built out 
from one side of it, and there was a gate 
at the outer end of the passage. From 
this the cattle were to emerge one by one. 
They were full-grown and wild, and 
moved around and around in the pen, 
longing to escape. When one stepped 
into the passageway, bars were let down 
behind it. 

The first contestant sat upon his horse 
by the gate. The conditions were that 
his lariat should be looped at his saddle- 
126 


Horsemanship and Cowmans hip 

bow, not held in his hand, and that the 
escaping cow or steer should have thirty 
yards of start. The rider was required to 
pursue the animal at the word of com- 
mand, take down his lariat, prepare its 
noose, rope the fugitive by the horns, 
throw it, and tie three of its feet together 
to prevent its rising. Three men with 
watches acted as judges. Gregorio was 
on hand, his face shining with confidence, 
and the “ gruya ” was double cinched. 

The word was given, and a large steer 
sprang out, shaking its horns, and darted 
away across the prairie. Thirty yards 
behind came the horseman. Ere he had 
traversed fifty yards, his lariat was loosed, 
poised in his right hand, and its wide cir- 
cle was whirling. He closed the gap to fif- 
teen yards, then, leaning forward, made his 
cast. The rawhide rope leaped through 
the air, hung for an instant over the ani- 
mal’s head, then settled, but upon one horn 
only. The pony instantly threw its hind 
feet under it and braced for the shock; but 
127 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

the lariat slipped off, and the steer went on. 
The disappointed vaqnero gathered up his 
lariat as fast as he could, renewed the chase, 
and at the next cast roped the animal. The 
pony became again a statue, and the steer 
was thrown violently when it came to the 
end of the rope, lying upon its back with 
its neck stretched out so that it could not 
move. The Mexican leaped down, ran to 
it, holding short rawhide thongs in his 
hand, and tied the feet together rapidly, 
then threw up his right hand as a signal 
to the time-keepers that his task was ac- 
complished. They rode forward at a gal- 
lop, inspected the work, and said that it 
was good. The time from the first dash 
of the steer until the hand was raised was 
only three and a half minutes. Ralph and 
Donald wondered greatly, but Harry said 
that it was nothing. 

“ The man does not stand a chance,” 
he said. “Missing the first cast put him 
out of the contest. The time of the win- 
ner will be well under a minute.” 


128 


Horsemanship and Cowmanship 

Gregorio was the next horseman. He 
sat the “ gruya ” with an easy grace, 
looked at the boys and smiled, then bowed 
to the people at large. The gate was 
thrown open, there was a shout, and a 
large black beef, his horns almost snow- 
white, his eyes as red as coals, dashed 
forth with a bellow, and scampered away 
with remarkable speed. Getting the 
word, Gregorio dashed in the huge rowels 
and was off like a rocket, his velvet jacket 
fluttering in the wind, his great sombrero 
on his shoulders, held to his neck by a 
string, and doing something doubtless to 
impede his progress and movements. The 
black beef was so swift that three hun- 
dred yards were covered before the pur- 
suer was within casting distance. Then, 
being a “ wary, cool old sworder,” the ani- 
mal half wheeled just as the lariat was 
sent forth, and its loop fell harmlessly to 
the ground. Gregorio gathered it up and 
cast again when within distance. Again 
the beef whirled and was missed. As yet 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

the rawhide thong had not touched it. 
The little Mexican, wild with vexation, 
made yet another effort, missed com- 
pletely, and kept on at full gallop, headed 
northward. Directly the mesquits closed 
behind him and he was lost to view. There 
was a roar of derision, and Harry said, 
laughing: 

He has gone straight home. He will 
have told some rare stories by the time 
we get there.” 

The victorious beef had also disap- 
peared, and no one took the trouble to 
follow it. One after one the cattle came 
from the pen and were roped, thrown, and 
tied, for the most part with marvelous 
celerity and precision. The “ times ” ran 
from a minute and a half to fifty-five sec- 
onds. It did not seem possible that this 
time could be reduced. 

In compliment to their contest of the 
morning, Juan Moro and his Monterey 
opponent were reserved to the last. Juan 
ran first. His beef, a large red animal 
130 


Horsemanship and Cowmanship 

with white spots and wide horns, was 
thrown hard within seventy-live yards of 
the gate, and tied without a second’s de- 
lay. Time, forty-nine seconds. 

The Monterey man, Victor Espinosa by 
name, looked at this with white, set face. 
His knees were clenched upon the saddle, 
and he stared straight ahead of him. It 
was plain that he would do his best. At 
the word he dropped the reins upon the 
pommel, trusting to his highly trained 
horse to follow every movement of the 
fleeing beef, and sunk in the spurs. He 
was within thirty feet of his prey by the 
time he could set his lariat to whirling. 
It shot out as straight as a mle, settled 
fairly upon the horns, and the next in- 
stant the big dun animal struck the earth 
with a crash. Espinosa leaped from his 
saddle even before the lariat tightened, 
fell to his knees upon the prostrate beef’s 
side, then threw his hand up. The judges 
rode forward, doubting that a tie had been 
made, but found the knots fastened in 
131 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

workmanlike manner. Time, thirty-three 
seconds. 

“ That,” said Harry, “ is a world’s rec- 
ord, I reckon. I have never heard of it 
being equaled.” 

Victor bowed often to the plaudits of 
his countrymen, and the honors between 
the two republics were even. 

The boys that night watched a haile^ as 
the dance was called, and listened to a 
singing match between three noted ranch 
quartettes, all of whom sang through 
their noses, dwelling for an unspeakable 
time on the last note of each measure. 
The quartette which hung on longest and 
was most nasal won. 

^^ext morning the boys were in the 
saddle at daylight, and, the horses going 
freely, dismounted at the ranch one horn- 
after noon. 


132 


CHAPTEE VIII 


A'N HOUR BY THE SWIMMING-HOLE 

T he water in the “ swimming-hole ” 
had a temperature of seventy-five 
degrees, — it varied scarcely ten degrees 
in a year, — and the boys were splashing 
about in it hugely. Harry had swum well 
since his eighth year; Ealph had become 
fairly expert in a gymnasium tank at 
home ; but Donald, when he came first to 
Eincon Eanch, “swam,” as his brother 
expressed it, “ like a brick, and dived like 
a feather.” He had gone boldly in, how- 
ever, and mastered first the “ dog stroke,” 
with both hands beating convulsively in 
front of the breast and the legs kicking 
up water like a stern-wheeled steamboat. 
From this he had advanced to the “ sailor 
133 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

stroke,” with the hands shooting out from 
the chin and each describing a semicircle. 
And of late he had devoted himself to the 
beauties of the “overhand stroke,” which 
is one of the swiftest modes of getting 
through the water, and is the way in which 
the South Sea islanders swim. He was 
enthusiastic about it, as about everything 
which he undertook, and felt that if the 
day ever came when he would be able to 
lead Ralph thrice around the pool, life 
would have little else to give. 

One noon he grew tired of the water, 
however, and, clambering out, lay down 
upon a small stretch of sand ten feet from 
the pool’s edge, leaving his companions 
splashing and throwing water in each 
other’s faces. On one side of this bit of 
sand lay the rotting trunk of a tree. 
Donald saw what appeared to be a long, 
active bit of sand leap up and fall on the 
log. When it came into contrast with 
the black wood, he knew it to be a cha- 
meleon some eight inches long. Its skin 
134 


An Hour bj the Swimming-hole 

rapidly darkened to match the log, and 
he rose for a nearer view; he was never 
tired of watching these little creatures 
change hue. The chameleon, seeing him 
approach, rapidly scuttled to the farther 
side of the trunk, threw itself upon the 
ground, and darted into the undergrowth. 
It went so fast as to be barely visible, and 
Don stood staring. 

“ My ! ” he muttered, “ that fellow ’s a 
record-breaker. It takes two people to 
watch him, one to say ‘Here he comes!’ 
and the other to say ‘Yonder he goes!”’ 

So, staring, he marked a lengthy insect 
crawl from under the log and stretch it- 
self upon the hot white sand where the 
sun’s rays could beat upon it. It was 
brown in color, six inches long, a quarter 
of an inch through, and its back was hard 
and scaly. It had many legs, and its 
track on the sand looked as if a thousand 
pin-points had been pressed down. He 
called to the other boys: 

“Here ’s the biggest worm on earth, 
135 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

Maybe it ’s good to fish with. Wait! 
I ’ll bring it to you.” 

‘‘Hold on!” Harry shouted instantly. 
“ Don’t touch it ! ” 

He scrambled out of the water and 
came running, followed by Ralph. 

“Ha!” he said. “Your ‘worm’ would 
have made it busy for you. That ’s a 
centipede ! ” 

“ Well ? ” Don said inquiringly. “What 
of it?” 

“Poison,” Harry answered; “big heap 
poison!” 

He broke a six-foot branch from a wil- 
low and touched the centipede with it. 
The villainous creature dug its rear legs 
into the sand and raised all of the fore 
part of its body a half-inch clear of the 
ground. The boys saw that it had two 
short curved horns at the corners of a 
distinct mouth, and small shining needle- 
points of eyes. A drop of dark liquid 
showed, and it reached forward slowly for 
the stick. Next instant Harry raised the 
136 


An Hour bj the Swimming-hole 

switch and brought it down sharply thrice, 
cutting the centipede in two. The halves 
continued to writhe for a while, but the 
life went out of them finally. 

^‘That fellow,” said Harry, “is about 
the most dangerous thing we have around 
here, and if there were more of him no- 
body could live in this country. Provi- 
dence makes them few. The Mexicans 
believe that the centipede’s venom is the 
most deadly of all poisons, but I do not 
know that it is any worse than that of the 
rattlesnake. If a rattlesnake bites you, 
and you do not treat the hurt immediately, 
you will die surely, and that is true of the 
centipede’s bite. Any strong stimulant, 
like spirits of ammonia, will generally 
enable one to get over the evil effects, 
though sometimes nothing appears to be 
of any good. Last year one of the ranch 
children, a little girl three years old, was 
bitten by a centipede, and its parents gave 
it nearly a quart of raw whisky without 
making it drunk. It died, but maybe the 
137 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

whisky killed it; it would have died any- 
how. If Mexican sheep-herders are bitten 
by a centipede or rattler they almost al- 
ways die, because they have no stimulant 
and nothing to put upon the puncture ex- 
cept moistened tobacco, which is good, but 
not good enough.” 

“Is there — is there any way to dodge 
’em?” asked' Don, who had been white 
and silent for some time. 

“^sTo, there is n’t. The rattler is chiv- 
alric and gives warning of attack, but the 
centipede is a thief in the night. Indeed, it 
does most of its damage after dark. You 
may be bitten when sitting by a camp-fire, 
or one may crawl into your blankets. Our 
men are always on the lookout for them. 
They kill cows, calves, horses, and sheep 
for us. All animals dread them. If one 
of them gets into a prairie-dog town the 
dogs will leave that part of the town and 
will never go back to it. One day, as I 
was standing by a dead deer in an open 
space, a coyote broke out of the brush 
138 


An Hour by the Swimming-hole 

and rushed by within ten feet of me. He 
was so mad with fear that he did not 
mind me at all. As he went past a centi- 
pede fell off his hide, and I killed it. I 
suppose the brute had sat down on it, or 
got to nosing around some old log. I 
knew that was a dead coyote.” 

‘‘How long,” Donald asked tremblingly, 
“ would a fellow live if bit by a centipede?” 

“Without stimulants to offset the shock 
and heart paralysis, maybe three hours, in 
great agony; maybe not so long. The 
violence of the poison is greatly exagger- 
ated in popular belief, though I believe 
that the venom varies in different indi- 
viduals, just as the rattler’s venom varies. 
A rattlesnake which has gone blind in 
August is much more poisonous than at 
other times; I suppose because it is fe- 
vered. Here is a centipede story which 
Mexicans tell often and believe devoutly; 
I do not swear to its truth, but, mind you, 
it may be true : 

“ Two of them were camping near the 
139 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

Rio Grande, and as the night was hot, 
they had taken off all of their clothing 
except their shirts. One of them was 
aroused from a doze by a prickly burning 
sensation in his leg. He looked down 
sleepily, and saw a large centipede crawl- 
ing slowly upward toward his knee. He 
knew that he had not been bitten, but was 
afraid to call out, or to spring up, or to 
strike at the poisoner with his hand or 
a stick. So he reached out softly and 
picked up his pistol, which was lying on 
the sand near him, cocked it, put the 
muzzle slowly within an inch of the crawl- 
ing thing, and blew it into kingdom come. 
Simultaneously one of the mules staked 
near by snorted and reared up hard 
against the rope, but settled down and 
went on feeding. The Mexican examined 
it, and found that the bullet had grazed 
one of its legs just above the hoof. Next 
morning the mule was dead, with its leg 
swollen a foot through clear up to its 
body. The Mexican’s leg was badly 
140 


An Hour hjr the Swimming-hole 

powder-burned, and all of the flesh the 
centipede had crawled over, from ankle 
nearly to knee, sloughed off, but he got 
well.” 

“Well,” said Ralph, stirring the dis- 
membered insect with his foot, “ I don’t 
want to see any more of them.” 

“ It is not likely that you will,” Harry 
answered. “During all of the years I 
have lived here I have not seen a dozen. 
In fact, they are something of a curiosity 
even in the country where they exist, and 
many people have them preserved in bot- 
tles of alcohol to show to other people.” 

The boys were getting into their clothes 
when a harsh scream came from the trees 
near, followed by two flashes of blue, and 
a pair of jay-birds darted out. Ahead of 
them, bitterly pursued, was a little brown 
wren, a native of the Southwest which 
raises two or three broods a year, two in 
a brood. The jays were only a yard be- 
hind it, and one of them, darting forward 
with sudden increase of speed, struck the 
141 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

wren on the back, knocking it nearly to 
the ground. It went on, however, and 
the jays perched on an oak limb and chat- 
tered loudly to each other. Harry re- 
garded them with an unfriendly eye. 

^‘]N^ow,” he said, ^Hhere is an instance 
of something that happens often. That 
little brush- wren is perfectly harmless; 
it is not big enough to hurt anything, 
even if it had the disposition. The chances 
are that those jays found its nest, despoiled 
it, and attacked the mother when she came 
and protested against the destruction of 
her eggs. They ’d have killed her if 
they could have caught her, and they are 
now congratulating themselves about their 
crime.” 

^^Do jays eat eggs?” Ralph inquired. 

‘‘The jay,” Harry answered, “is the 
meanest bird that flies. It will eat eggs. 
If it is not hungry it will roll them out of 
the nest to the ground. If it ever finds a 
youngling which has fallen and is too 
weak to fly, it will kill it. It is lazy and 
142 


An Hour by the Swirnming-hole 

will not build a nest unless it is un- 
able to find another bird to dispossess. 
It will waste a week in looking for an old 
deserted nest of last year, rather than turn 
to and build. It is beautifully colored 
and can’t sing, very strong and won’t 
work, has a sharp bill, big head, and bull 
neck, and is afraid to fight anything more 
than half its size. You ought to see a 
mocking-bird whip a half-dozen of them. 
The jay is smart, but has no principle. 
It sets a high value on its own worthless 
life. If you go into the woods with a 
gun or a stick in your hand, every jay- 
bird for a half-mile will go into hiding. 

“ In general, brightly colored birds 
build deep nests so that the mother will 
not be conspicuous when sitting ; the 
oriole carries this to an extreme, and builds 
a pouch which it hangs from a limb: 
but the jay-bird will use any old nest 
sooner than take the trouble to gather 
twigs and make one for itself. Some- 
times the female lays upon a mere plat- 
143 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

form of twigs, and a slight shock sends 
the eggs to the ground. Those birds,” 
and he nodded at them, “ are lazy, mis- 
chievous, thievish, and murderous. When- 
ever I see them about the house I drive 
them away, because they interfere with 
the other birds of which madre is fond.” 

“ They are good to kill insects, are n’t 
they?” asked Ralph, who felt that he 
ought to say something in defense of 
birds unable to talk back. 

They are good,” Harry replied un- 
compromisingly, “for nothing, except to 
make a loud, disagreeable noise, kill, and 
steal.” 

The pair, in the meantime, had changed 
their harsh screaming to a less strenuous 
note, which sounded like nothing in the 
world so much as a wagon- wheel turning 
upon an ungreased rusty axle. It was 
not a bird-note at all, but a strong creak. 
Harry said that it was their manner of 
being sociable and saying that they felt 
well. Suddenly they became silent, with 
144 


An Hour by the Swimming-hole 

their heads turned to one side and cocked 
upward anxiously, as if listening to some- 
thing, and they drew closer together. 
Harry’s demeanor changed, too. He had 
been carelessly pulling on his coat and 
glancing sourly at the jays. Now he 
straightened and began casting his eyes 
about among the trees, as if searching for 
something. Then he said ‘‘Aha!” under 
his breath, and pointed to the top of an 
oak some thirty yards distant. 

Perched on the topmost bough of this 
tree, with its round head sunk into its 
shoulders and seemingly more than half 
asleep, was a small bird not more than 
two thirds as large as one of the jays, 
with slaty plumage mixed with white. It 
was faced toward the jays, but apparently 
was giving no attention to them. They, 
it was plain, were watching it. Now and 
then they hopped uneasily on their bough, 
as if afraid to stay and afraid to fly. All 
at once, determined that safety lay in 
flight, they sprang outward, going rapidly. 

10 145 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

A half-second later they both screamed 
hoarsely, for their small foeman was after 
them like a flash. From its superior 
height it launched itself downward, its 
wings not more than half extended, and 
its bullet head drawn backward, with the 
bill slightly raised. It uttered no sound, 
but there was a distinct whir from its 
passage through the air. It gained rapidly 
on the fugitives, and ten yards farther on 
struck one of them violently at the junc- 
ture of the neck and back. This jay went 
at once to the ground, turning half over 
in its fall, struck the sand near the centi- 
pede, and was still. The other flitted into 
the underbrush, closely followed. Don 
was for going to the fallen jay to see 
where it was hit, but Harry said: 

“ Wait a minute. I reckon you ’ll hear 
something from that other one.” 

A moment later the second jay ap- 
peared, flying heavily, and silent. It went 
to a low branch of mesquit on the far side 
of the opening, and perched there. On its 
146 


An Hour by the Swimming-hole 

breast was a drop of blood. It swayed 
backward and forward, clung desperately 
with its claws, then let go its hold and 
came down, dead before it struck the 
ground. 

The small slayer reappeared and lighted 
by the corpse on the sand, picked it up by 
one wing, and deposited it carefully in the 
fork of a tree. It went then to the second 
victim, raised it in the same manner, flew 
to a locust, and hung the body on one of its 
three-inch thorns, working busily for five 
minutes. Then it went away swiftly. 
From first to last it had not uttered a 
sound, doing its work in a workmanlike 
manner and as a matter of course. The 
boys looked from the suspended jays to 
Harry, and wondered. 

“ That,” he said, “ was a shrike. It 
comes in the fall, but does not nest here. 
Some folks call it the ‘ butcher-bird ’ ; 
some of them around here call it the 
‘Spanish mocking-bird,’ though why I 
don’t know. For its size it is the fiercest 
147 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

and most deadly bird we have. It meets 
its match in the bee-martin or king-bird, 
and it does not bother the mocking-bird, 
because anything that bothers the mock- 
ing-bird gets a fight right away, if it is as 
big as a sand-hill crane. I have often 
seen two mocking-birds chasing a hawk.” 

“ Why did the shrike hang the jays 
up? ” Don asked. 

For the same reason that a squirrel 
puts away nuts or an ant lays up corn,” 
was the reply. ‘‘ He put them there for 
food against the time when he shall be 
hungry. Of course they will decay rap- 
idly, and I have never known a shrike to 
come back to any suspended bird. I 
reckon its memory is short and it forgets 
the places of its victims. It kills when it 
is hungry, and kills when it is not hungry 
to provide against a future appetite, and 
then forgets. Some people think that it 
hangs up the dead birds as warning to 
others. However that may be, it keeps 
itself pretty busy. 


148 


An Hour hy the Swimming-hole 

“ I could forgive it,” Harry added, “ for 
killing all of the jay-birds in Texas; but 
the trouble with the shrike is that it kills 
any bird it is able to master — kills them, 
and hangs them up, and goes on. That 
fellow will probably not return to this part 
of the brush for a month.” 


149 


CHAPTER IX 


A FEATHERED DANDY AND IDLER 

OATS, bandas, and boots off, their 



feet in comforting slippers, the boys 
sat in Harry’s room. Donald, with a 
piece of rawhide eight inches wide and 
split into twelve strings, was endeavoring 
to learn the Mexican art of plaiting, with 
his cousin for a teacher. Ralph watched 
them, too tired and laz}" to make even pass- 
ing comment. The night was warm, the 
window swung open upon its hinges, and 
outside poured a flood of moonlight so 
brilliant that in its beams a man could 
have seen to read even small print. The 
boys had found that the Texas moon was 
of double the strength of their Xew York 
moon, and that in the Rio Grande latitude 
150 


A Feathered Dandy and Idler 

the stars of moonless nights were of won- 
derful beauty and size. They were set 
in a sky of black, and were not all 
pricked out upon the same plane, but had 
vast depths between them, depths that 
stretched on and on to infinity. In the 
moonlight the trees threw dense inky 
shadows, and the sand gleamed almost as 
whitely as snow. 

As they sat in the gleam of a kerosene 
lamp, listening now and then to the grind- 
ing of a late cicada or the hollow roaring 
made by the wings of the night-hawk in 
swooping down three hundred feet with- 
out pause, a low, clear, most musical 
whistle came from one of the yard trees. 
It was repeated, then followed by a sim- 
ple strain, tender and sweet, containing 
only a few rounded notes, but given with 
great purity and precision. Then came a 
rippling burst, very high and shrill, then 
a low chuckle, and then a silence. Harry 
smiled. 

There goes a mocking-bird,” he said. 

151 


The Boy’S of the Rincon Ranch 

“He ’s clearing his pipes and trying to 
find out whether or not there is another 
one near to enter a song tournament with 
him.” 

The first whistle was repeated with 
more force, and then there was stillness 
for a little while. Apparently the singer 
was satisfied that no rival was within 
hearing, for he suddenly burst into a rhap- 
sody of song. It was a rapid fire and 
cross-fire of notes that no musician could 
have followed. The voice was of a pecu- 
liarly liquid quality which seemed to bub- 
ble from the small throat without the will 
of its owner, and it was filled with unex- 
pected turns, quavers, and broken octaves 
that came without any attempt at arrange- 
ment. It was all melodious and harmo- 
nious, but artless. I^^ow the song was 
slow, low, and sweet, with a mournful 
cadence, then brighter and of quicker 
movement, then a storm of tinkling notes 
that rushed and crowded each other on 
the air, then dropping suddenly almost to 
152 


A Feathered Dandj and Idler 

hoarseness, then clanging metallically and 
wildly on the night. There appeared to 
be no limit to its range, to its sweetness, 
or to its contrasts. It was unlike any 
bird-music the Crugers had ever heard. 
There were times when it might have 
been compared to the concert of thirty 
birds at once, all bursting their throats. 

“That mocker,” said Harry, “began 
his song on the lowest branch of the tree, 
and while singing is working his way up- 
ward. When he reaches the topmost 
branch he will sway and do his best for 
a while, then sing his way down again. 
He will keep this up until the moon goes 
down, whether it lasts all night or not.” 

As he ceased, the bird had perched 
upon the highest twig and was plainly 
visible in the moonlight. It stood upon 
the elastic little branch, swaying up and 
down for six inches or so, and intoxicated 
with its own music. Its beak was pointed 
upward, its wings half opened, its gray 
breast distended, its round black eyes 
153 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

shining. So perched and inspired, the 
melody in it swung and caroled and 
tinkled on the night. At times it had a 
queer ventriloquic quality, and came from 
every point of the compass at once; then 
it narrowed to that single swaying point, 
and soared forth, crystal-like in purity, 
placid and serene. 

Loosing its hold, the mocker descended 
into a dark tuft of branches below, and 
thence sent out its voice, rejoicing in its 
power. Trills, roulades, bravuras, cres- 
cendos, diminuendos, bits of unadorned 
airs, inexpressibly difficult renditions, 
were alike to it. It sang because its 
Creator had implanted in it a deathless 
desire to sing; it had no order nor inten- 
tional control, but it was master of 
melodic medley: 

And all his stanchless song, 

As something falling unaware, 

Fell out of the tall trees he sang among. 

Fell ringing down the ringing morn and rang — 
Rang like a golden jewel down a golden stair. 

154 


A Feathered Dandy and Idler 

Then the bird, still crouched in the 
dark, and tired apparently of making 
music, began a series of imitations, won- 
derful alike in their clearness and correct- 
ness. It gave the scream of the jay, the 
caw of the crow, the thin, plaintive call 
of the plover flying overhead in the night, 
the sharp, harsh ’Scape ! ’Scape ! ” of the 
jack-snipe, the quail’s whistle, the quack- 
ing of wild ducks, the mews of the catbird 
— all of the hundred sounds it heard during 
its life in the open and unconsciously 
memorized. Any listener would have 
said that in the black massive oak, down 
whose edges flowed a torrent of moon- 
beams, was an entire aviary comprising 
every song-bird of the Southwest and 
many of those which live farther north. 

The boys listened intently. Donald 
stopped plaiting, and Harry went to the 
window and seated himself on its broad 
ledge. 

“I never get tired of them,” he said. 
“They are at their best now. Late in 
155 


The Boy'S of the Rincon Ranch 

the summer, when the migrating birds 
have been absent for months, the mockers 
forget a good deal that they know and 
have to learn it all over again in the fall. 
The plover-whistling and duck-quacking 
you heard awhile ago will be gone from 
that fellow by June, and you will never 
hear them in his repertoire. Mocking- 
birds practise just as other vocalists do. 
Of course they sing a little at all times; 
but in the fall, with the first flight of 
birds from the ^orth, you will find them 
industriously endeavoring to pick up the 
forgotten imitations. They are very pa- 
tient and hard-working about it, trying 
again and again until they are satisfied 
with the imitation. That is the only kind 
of work the male mocker will do. You 
know, of course, that it is the male that 
sings. The female has no voice, or, if she 
has, does not use it.” 

“ You seem to know a good deal about 
birds,” said Ealph. 

They have been with me almost con- 
stantly for some years,” the other an- 
156 


A Feathered Dandy and Idler 

swered simply, “and I could not help 
noticing them. The male mocker has his 
good points. He is handsome, a brilliant 
minstrel, and very brave; but when that is 
said, all is said. There is not much to 
him except courage and music. The 
couples build about here every spring, 
but I was especially attracted by one of 
them two years ago. He attracted me 
because he was one of the finest singers 
I ever heard. They differ greatly in 
ability. This chap came with his wife 
one morning in March, and sat on a 
fence-post while the wife looked for 
a place in which to build. I knew that 
he had been around here before, because 
as soon as he saw me he began to imitate 
the assembly call of the quail. It used 
to be quite a trick of mine to call up 
bevies of quails in the fields or chaparral, 
and I knew that he had learned it from 
me, because it was a bad imitation ; if he 
had learned it from the birds it would 
have been perfect. 

“ I paid special attention to this rascal, 
157 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

for he seemed friendly, and I watched him 
closely for some days. He was perfectly 
frank in his selfishness. His wife came 
back after a while to tell him that she had 
found a good place for a nest in the fork 
of an oak that grows out there by the 
river. He went with her to look at it, 
signified his approval, then fiew back to 
his fence-post and began singing. She 
brought the twigs and wove them into 
the nest. He never brought a twig. 
Sometimes, when he had nothing better to 
do, he superintended operations, and 
scolded viciously if they did not go to 
suit him ; but work was beneath him. So 
far as I could see, he did nothing except 
sing and eat. When the nest was com- 
pleted he celebrated it with a burst of 
song that lasted a couple of hours, rising 
and falling, flirting about, and evidently 
intensely satisfied with himself. Then 
the hen went to setting, and he roamed 
far and wide. Every hour or so he was 
back in her neighborhood, evidently to 
158 


A Feathered Dandy and Idler 

see that she was doing her duty, but he 
did not offer to assist her in any way. 
He did not bring her a speck of food; he 
did not take her place in the nest when 
she was compelled to go for food or 
water. 

will say for him that he drove away 
any bird that came near her, and nearly 
killed one rain-crow that lit within two 
feet of the nest; also he entertained her 
with any amount of music; but that was 
all. 

“ There were four young ones in the 
nest soon, and they had healthy appetites. 
The hen was weak from long confinement 
and lack of food, but she had to do all 
of the foraging. She was constantly go- 
ing and coming. I have seen her on hot 
days perch on the edge of the nest with 
her bill open and her breast heaving, and 
almost fall from fatigue ; but she kept the 
children going until they were able to 
look out for themselves. Meanwhile the 
husband and father sang. When he 
159 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

found a fat grub or worm, he cocked his 
head to one side and looked toward the 
nest, then swallowed the dainty and 
struck up a tune. I came near to knock- 
ing him over more than once, but thought 
that he was only doing as his nature bade 
him to do, and as the wife seemed satis- 
fied it was not my business. 

Before the young ones were able to 
fly she used to flutter around him occa- 
sionally and beseech him to go and take a 
look at them. Sometimes he would and 
sometimes he would n’t. He was too fond 
of himself to take much interest in others. 
When the young got so that they could 
fly, they went away, and the mother with 
them. He stayed, and grew so tame that 
I could walk within a yard of him. 

He became expert in imitating the 
animals about the place. He would bleat 
like a sheep, and low like a cow, and 
whinny like a horse, and crow like a 
rooster, and cluck like a hen. He had a 
distinct sense of humor or mischief, too. 

160 


A Feathered Dandj and Idler 

I have seen him on a limb of that oak out 
there, when the chickens were busy about 
the yard, give the scream of the hungry 
hawk to perfection, and every hen with 
her little yellow children would scamper 
under the house for protection. Then he 
would dance about in high glee. The old 
house-cat had a litter of kittens then, and 
they were kept in a box out by the 
kitchen. The bird did not like the cat, 
naturally, and it would whine like these 
kittens until old Juanita would come scur- 
rying, with her whiskers bristling, from 
any part of the yard or house. She would 
have given a good deal to get hold of 
that mocker.” 

All of this amused Donald intensely. 
He sat with eyes intent, his brown hands 
resting on his knees, then drew a long 
breath and asked: 

“ What became of him? ” 

“ Why,” Harry answered, ‘‘ I can’t say, 
exactly. He went away in the fall, and 
did not come back. Doubtless he is dead. 


11 


161 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

Mockers are safe enough in pleasant wea- 
ther, except from hawks, or owls after 
dark ; but when the northers blow they do 
like most other birds, and get into the 
deepest chaparral, which acts as a wind- 
break. Now in the chaparral nothing is 
safe. The meanest insect and the strong- 
est beast hold their lives only through 
luck and watchfulness. The lizards eat 
the insects ; the birds eat the lizards ; the 
snakes, wildcats, leopard-cats, foxes, co- 
yotes and skunks eat the birds. It goes 
on that way clear up to the puma, and 
man kills him. I reckon some cat got 
my lazy singer. Pretty nearly all of 
them end that way. I have heard folks 
wonder why they so seldom saw dead 
birds out in the fields or brush; but I think 
that few of them die natural deaths. They 
are caught, sooner or later, and eaten.” 

Harry stood silent for a while, and then 
said softly: 

‘^Once I had two mocking-birds in a 
cage ; but I do not try to keep them now. 

162 


A Feathered Dandy and Idler 

They love freedom too well. The cage 
hung on the outside of the house, where 
they could get plenty of air and sunshine. 
They were very young; in fact, I took 
them from the nest before they could fly. 
One day, when they had been shut up for 
nearly a week, I saw the mother bird fly 
to the cage, hold to its bars, and feed one 
of them. She had been around a good 
deal, fluttering, and I had not disturbed 
her, because I wanted her to see as much 
of them as possible. Well, within half 
an hour after she fed this one, it became 
stupid, sat with its eyes closed, then died. 
She came again, bearing some sort of berry 
in her beak; but I drove her away, took 
out the survivor, and replaced it in the 
nest. I know that she poisoned one of 
her offspring and would have killed them 
both if permitted to. I learned afterward 
that this happens often when the mother 
bird can get at those in the cage. She 
poisons them as soon as she finds that she 
cannot set them free.” 

163 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

“ That,” said Ralph, “ goes to prove 
that the mocking-bird can reason.” 

“I myself think that it rises beyond 
mere instinct,” Harry said. “ The bird 
must argue to herself that her children 
are prisoners for life, and that they would 
be better dead than alive. It is certain 
that female mockers never poison their 
young when at liberty. I have seen a 
good deal to make me think that some 
animals are able to reason. I have known 
broken-winged ducks to drown them- 
selves to prevent capture. Rattlesnakes 
will kill themselves in captivity, or when 
blind, if they are tortured. Bees have got 
lots of sense, and ants are smarter than 
some human beings. Why, I had a hound 
once that — but it is getting late.” 

Donald, who was keeping awake by 
holding his lids apart with thumb and 
forefinger, protested that it was early 
and no time for bed; but Ralph yawned 
and led him away. The boys found that 
ten hours of dreamless sleep was little 
enough down on the Rincon Ranch. 

164 


CHAPTEE X 


YTSITIJ^^G AN OUTLYING SHEEP-CAMP 



E have a sheep-camp on the south- 


▼ ▼ ern limit of our range,” said Harry, 
one morning. must go there to-day to 
see how Estevan, the pastor, or shepherd, 
is getting on. Would you like to ride? ” 
Of course the Cruger boys would like 
to ride. They counted each hour in the 
saddle an hour gained. So they saw much 
of the surrounding country, and many of 
the many strange things it contained, and 
got health and strength. The horses were 
ready within five minutes; then Donald 
spent fifteen minutes in the “ dark room,” 
loading his camera; then he had lost one 
of his spurs, and searched until he found 
it; then Aunt Mary discovered a button 
off Ealph’s woolen shirt, and that was 


165 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

sewed; then one of the hounds was bent 
on following, and was chased, captured, 
and tied up ; then they started. 

The way led due south over an open 
country dotted with mottes of live-oaks. 
The ground was firm underfoot, the sky 
blue, the air soft and warm. They rode 
at a swinging lope to make up for lost 
time. Remembering the tricks of the 
Mexican cow-hands, Donald’s desire to 
experiment besought him to throw his 
right leg over the pommel of the saddle, 
which he did, and promptly rolled off into 
a sand-heap. His pony was caught and 
brought back to him, sitting ruefully and 
brushing sand from his hair. 

I ’d do that again if I were you,” said 
Ralph, severely. 

‘‘Thank ye,” said Don. “It ’s your 
turn to make fun for us. Let ’s see you 
stand on your head.” 

Ralph was contemptuously silent. Six 
miles from the rancheria, Harry drew rein 
and pointed ahead and to the left. 

166 


Visiting an Outlying Sheep-camp 

“Yonder is the flock,” he said. 

Looking closely, the boys saw on the 
side of a hill two miles distant some little 
brown objects not so large as rabbits. 
They seemed to be motionless, and were 
strung out for some distance. The riders 
turned in that direction, and in a little 
while could make out the figure of the 
shepherd seated under a solitary mesquit 
and watching his sheep. He wore a bat- 
tered straw hat, the brim missing from 
one side, and a heavy blanket was over 
his shoulders. His other garments were 
a stained cotton shirt, cotton trousers 
with holes at the knees, and on his bare 
feet were rawhide sandals with a string 
passing between the big toe and second 
toe. His long black hair hung over his 
eyes, and a straggling beard covered the 
lower part of his face. He rose slowly as 
they approached, and had a queer, startled 
expression. 

This man brought his flock into the 
ranch twice a year for the shearing; the 
167 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

remainder of the time he spent in loneli- 
ness on the prairie and in the chaparral. 
His wages were six dollars a month in 
Mexican money, a bushel of meal, a little 
salt pork, and a little coffee. Supplies 
were taken to him every thirty days, but 
were left generally at his camp, from 
which he was absent except at night. 
Thus it was that for months at a time he 
held converse with no human being. Oc- 
casionally he saw the vaqueros riding the 
range afar off; still more rarely one of 
them came close enough to hallo to him. 
Like all of his class, he grew in time to 
have a distaste for society, and even when 
at the ranch kept apart. He was not 
more than thirty years old, but exposure 
and brooding gave him the look of fifty. 
He had no weapons and depended upon 
his fire to keep the wolves from him. If 
they came near the flock at night, he 
seized a firebrand and went toward them 
in the dark. Some fifty goats were with 
the flock as a protection against wolves 
168 


Visiting an Outlying Sheep-camp 

and coyotes in the daytime. He was an 
expert trapper, and varied his rude fare 
with rabbits, quails, and wild turkeys, 
which latter he caught in a log pen almost 
as large as a small room. 

‘‘ How d’ ye, Estevan ! ” said Harry, dis- 
mounting. 

Estevan said stiffly: ^‘How d’ ye! ” 

“ How ’s the range? ” 

^‘Muy bien.” [Very well.] 

How ’re the sheep? ” 

“Very well.” 

“Any lomhrizf'^'^ (That is a peculiarly 
fatal intestinal disease.) 

“No, senor.” 

“ Scab?” 

“No, senor.” 

“ Wolves? ” 

“No, senor.” 

“Do you need anything?” 

Estevan hesitated, glancing timidly at 
the boy. “A — a mouth-organ,” he said 
finally. 

“ All right,” Harry said cheerfully. 

169 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

“You shall have it when your supplies 
are brought. Here ’s your money.” 

He gave six silver dollars, bearing 
the liberty-cap, sunburst, and eagle, to 
the man, who smiled for the first time, 
wrapped them in a dirty rag, and knot- 
ted them securely into a corner of his 
blanket. 

“ Adios, Estevan,” Harry said, turning 
away. 

“Adios, sehor.” 

They looked back as they rode away, 
and saw that he had resumed his listless 
pose, leaning against the trunk of the 
mesquit. Their visit, however, had done 
him good, and would furnish him with 
food for thought for a month. Harry 
said that the request for the mouth-organ 
was not unusual, and that the little instru- 
ment would go some way toward keeping 
him from becoming crazy, a fate that often 
overtook these solitary wanderers. They 
passed his camp on the return journey. 
This camp, on the bank of a little creek 
170 


Visiting an Outlying Sheep-camp 

dried into pools, consisted only of a tin 
bucket, a coffee-pot, a frying-pan, a 
blanket hung over a bush, and a heap of 
ashes, from which a thin blue smoke 
curled upward. Near by was a brush pen 
in which the sheep were corralled at night. 
The soil was arid and rocky. 

As it was past the noon hour and there 
was a fire, Harry suggested that they 
stop, broil some bacon which was tied be- 
hind his saddle, and make coffee from a 
package he carried in his pocket. Each 
of the boys had a tin cup attached to 
a saddle- string. The bacon and coffee 
were soon ready, and they made them- 
selves free in the only home of the lonely 
Estevan. Don made several snap shots of 
the other two, as, indeed, he had snap- 
shotted the shepherd while talking to his 
young employer. Now he sat stirring a 
bit of peloncillo into the black coffee with 
his forefinger. He paused with the cup 
half-way to his mouth, and said wonder- 
ingly: 


171 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

“Now what in the name of goodness 
is that? ” 

They looked in the direction to which 
his wet finger pointed. On the edge of 
the chaparral, mounted upon a flat rock, 
was a little animal not more than four 
inches high, which was squatted upon its 
haunches. Its small ears were erect, its 
sharp nose thrust forward, its beady eyes 
shining. Its long scaly tail was spread 
behind it, its stomach protruded in a 
comical way, and it held a twig in its fore 
paws. Its attitude seemed to say : “ AVho 
are you? What are you doing here? 
Are you honest? ” 

Harry burst into a laugh. “Hello, 
comjDadre ! he said. “At your old 
tricks, eh?” 

The visitor paid no heed to him, but sat 
still; now and then the tip of its tail 
lifted slightly from the rock. 

“Get up quietly,” Harry said to the 
others, “ and back out of sight. I ’ll show 
you something queer.” 

172 


Visiting an Outlying Sheep-camp 

All three rose as cautiously as possible, 
but the little animal wheeled and was 
gone like a flash. 

‘‘No matter,” Harry said; “it will re- 
turn.” 

He drew a pistol-cartridge from his belt 
and placed it on a chip near the fire ; then, 
followed by his companions, secreted him- 
self in a clump of bushes twenty feet 
away. All was silent for a while. “ What 
about it?” Ralph whispered. 

“ Why,” Harry answered, “ that was a 
kangaroo-rat, the first I have seen in a 
year. They do funny things.” 

At that moment the rat reappeared on 
the rock, and, seeing the coast clear, came 
forward slowly, still carrying the twig in 
its arms. It first inspected the tin cups, 
and turned one over with its nose. Then 
its eye was caught by the glisten of the 
cartridge, and it hopped forward rapidly. 
It did not hesitate an instant; evidently 
its mind was made up. It dropped the 
twig and took the cartridge in its paws, 
173 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

then dropped the cartridge, picked up the 
twig and placed it on the chip exactly 
in the spot the cartridge had occupied, 
then grasped its prize once more and hur- 
ried into the bushes. 

“That ’s all,” Harry remarked, rising; 
“ it won’t come back any more. 

“ The kangaroo-rat,” he went on, pour- 
ing himself more coffee, “is the most 
honest thief in the world. It will steal 
anything it can lift, no matter whether the 
thing is of any use to it or not, but it will 
always leave some object in place of the 
article taken. Really it is a trader, not a 
thief, and it believes that the thing it 
leaves is just as valuable as the thing it 
takes. It does business while the other 
party is not present, but it means well. 

“I had two about the house once, — 
they are harmless, — and the amount of 
one-sided barter they carried on was tre- 
mendous. They emptied a box of car- 
tridges for me, and for every cartridge 
taken they left a grain of corn. They 
174 


Visiting an Oiitljing Sheep-camp 

stole my lead-pencils and gave me strings, 
stole a gold collar-button and left a bak- 
ing-powder tin, stole my silver match-safe 
and left a black ribbon they had stolen 
from madre. With her they left one of the 
cook’s shoes, and with the cook they left 
a rusty knife-blade they had found under 
the house. We could almost always find 
any missing article by going to the box 
in which I kept them. One thing was 
strange about them: if I took anything 
from their box and replaced it where it 
belonged, they never touched it afterward. 
I suppose they regarded my taking it as 
proof that I did not want to swap. They 
were with me three months, then sickened 
and died.” 

Harry led as they galloped homeward 
in the afternoon. Passing by a goat-path 
through an area of closely woven chapar- 
ral above which mesquit-trees grew, his 
horse suddenly half wheeled and plunged 
into the underbrush. Harry’s firm seat 
was not shaken, but he lost his hat. Ahead 
175 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

in the patch lay the body of a young 
horse, and the ponies which the boys rode 
manifested a strange terror of it. All 
horses are afraid of dead animals, but 
these were nearly incontrollable. After 
much plunging and endeavor to break 
away, they were quieted sufficiently to 
permit of dismounting, though after 
they were tied they stood with ears 
cocked forward and fore legs apart, breath- 
ing deeply, and plainly frightened. 

The dead horse was stretched under a 
large limb of mesquit which spread over 
the path and some ten feet above it. 
There was a pool of blood on the ground, 
and the top of its head between the ears 
was crushed in as if it had been struck 
with a heavy club. A great wound was 
in its throat, and the skin upon its shoul- 
ders and back was badly scratched. 
Harry examined it closely, looked at the 
limb overhead, then inspected the far side 
of the tree-trunk. His face was white, and 
he seemed very serious. He said but 
176 


Visiting an Outlying Sheep-camp 

one word, pointing down at the horse: 
“Puma!” 

He mounted immediately afterward, 
motioning to his cousins to do likewise, 
and led the way through the chaparral at 
a trot, keeping a close lookout. They 
went in single file, Ralph bringing up the 
rear, and when they struck the open 
prairie smiling in the sun, they breathed 
more easily. 

“ The puma marks were plain on the 
carcass,” said Harry, as they ranged 
alongside, “but, to be more sure, I found 
the cuts from its claws on the other side 
of the tree. The killing was done two or 
three hours ago. That goat-path leads 
down to water, and this the puma 
knew. It climbed into the tree and 
stretched itself along the limb, waiting 
for prey. When the horse came by, it 
dropped upon the creature’s neck and 
smashed its skull with its paw, producing 
instant death. You saw for yourselves 
that the horse did not move a yard be- 
177 


12 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

yond the limb. Then the puma drank 
a lot of blood and went away to sleep. 
It will return to the carcass to-night.” 

“ Shall you try to kill it? ” Ralph asked. 

“ I reckon not. I don’t care to lie out in 
the dark on the chance of getting a shot, 
and the Mexicans would be afraid to do 
so. It will be gone in a day or two, any- 
how. These brutes are great rangers and 
do not often stay in any locality more than 
a week. This one lives probably in the 
mountains on the other side of the river, 
and crossed over recently. Pumas will 
travel often more than a hundred miles in 
a week. They do not chase their prey, 
but lie in wait on a limb and drop on it as 
it passes under. They kill many deer in 
that way, generally choosing a tree by a 
path that runs down to a water-hole. 
Almost always they kill by striking one 
blow at the head.” 

There are some queer animals in this 
country,” said Ralph. 

There are,” Harry answered, “ and 
some dangerous ones. Don’t ever ride 
178 


Visiting an Outlying Sheep-camp 

through the chaparral alone and unarmed. 
It looks peaceful enough, but death is in 
it. I do not believe that cougars, wild- 
cats, leopard-cats, or wolves ever attack 
human beings in this section, no matter 
how hungry they are; but there is no tell- 
ing what a puma would do, should you 
happen to ride under a limb on which he 
was crouched. I should not like to try it 
myself. Indeed, I do not often ride under 
any tree without having a good look at it 
first. There is never any saying what is 
in the branches. If no four-footed animal 
attacks you, the chaparral has rattlers in 
plenty. If you are on foot and see a band 
of javelinas^ or peccaries, or ‘Mexican 
hogs,’ let them alone. They can be dan- 
gerous at times.” 

“I ’ll look out,” Kalph said gravely, 
but Don’s reception of the warning was 
characteristic. He was riding humped 
forward, with his eyes on the pommel of 
his saddle. 

“ I wonder,” he said dreamily, “ where 
I could get a kangaroo-rat.” 

179 


CHAPTER XI 


m CAMP AS PECAN-HUNTERS 

T heir stay had advanced into De- 
cember. The first norther rushed 
down on them, and a frost fell, leaving a 
brown tinge on the grasses. When this 
norther blew, the Mexicans wrapped them- 
selves in all the blankets they could find, 
and their fat children hovered about the 
fires in the jacals^ as they called their cab- 
ins. Even Harry put on his warmest cloth- 
ing, and said that it was “ mighty cold.” 
The thermometer showed forty-seven de- 
grees above zero, and the Crugers laughed. 
Here was one thing, at least, in which 
they were superior. It was moderate 
spring weather to them, and Donald em- 
phasized the fact by walking about in his 
180 


In Camp as Pecan-hunters 

shirt-sleeves, drawing in deep, luxurious 
breaths, and saying, “ This is what we 
have in August up home,” while his cou- 
sin looked on enviously. 

The norther passed in twenty-four 
hours, as the earlier ones do, and again a 
slow breeze, warmed by a blazing sun, 
swayed the tops of the mesquits and whis- 
pered amid the branches of the cotton- 
woods and pecans. 

The boys never tired of the luscious 
pecan-nuts, which grew thickly upon 
beautiful straight trees seventy-five feet 
high, and the manner of gathering them 
was especially attractive. A circular tar- 
paulin, fifty feet in diameter, with a four- 
foot hole in its center, was buttoned about 
the trunk and spread fiat upon the ground. 
Armed with long poles, the four of them 
climbed the tree and hammered the 
branches, causing the nuts to fall in show- 
ers. Harry called this “ thrashing.” As 
pecan wood is exceedingly tough and elas- 
tic, being in this respect much like hick- 
181 


The Bojs of the Rincon Ranch 

ory, there was little danger that any 
branch would break. The Crngers be- 
came climbers of reasonable skill; Harry 
was an expert, in spite of his weight; but 
not any one of them could be compared 
with Juan, who was more like a monkey 
in the foliage than a boy. 

The pecan grove on Pendencia Creek 
was small, and one day Harry proposed 
that they go to the head-waters of Pena 
arroyo, fifteen miles southwest of their 
home, where the nuts were in plenty. 

“We will take a wagon, provisions, 
blankets, and a tent,” he said, “ and camp 
out for a day, or two days, or until we 
get tired of it. We will take our rifles 
also, and Juan may go along to care for 
the horses. W e will do our own cooking, 
and for a while will be monarchs of all we 
survey — though we won’t be able to see 
far.” 

That was a proposition which appealed 
strongly to Ralph and Donald. They 
had seen a little of camp life, but not 
182 


In Camp as Pecan-hunters 

much, and they felt that half a week of it 
would be wholly delightful. Within two 
hours the wagon had been brought out 
and packed, two stout horses had been 
hitched to it, Harry had taken the reins, 
the others had piled in anyhow, and they 
were on the way. After traveling five 
miles from the ranch-house they noticed 
that the country began to assume an even 
wilder appearance. The mesquits were 
larger, the cacti taller, and the chaparral 
more dense. Part of the route was over 
prairie, but most of it was a twisting, 
overgrown track which apparently had 
not been used for a year. Harry told 
them that they were gradually approach- 
ing the Pio Grande, and that the Pena, 
indeed, rose within a mile of that stream, 
fiowing away from it. 

They reached the creek about sunset, 
and followed its course for a mile or more, 
finally camping in the midst of a grove 
of pecan-trees, which covered nearly a 
half-mile square. The nuts lay already 
183 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

thickly on the ground, and the branches 
were still laden. Like all the smaller 
streams they had encountered in the West, 
Pena arroyo was narrow, rapid, beautifully 
clear, and well stocked with perch and 
bass. They ate bacon and cold chicken 
that night, but early next morning had 
opportunity to try bass broiled on mesquit 
coals and perch rolled in corn meal and 
fried brown in a large iron pot half filled 
with boiling lard. Ralph declared for the 
perch, Harry preferred the bass, Donald 
and Juan went from one to the other with 
equal fervor. Don voiced their belief in 
the phrase : “ They are both the best fish 
in the world.” 

That day they gathered three bushels 
of pecans, working in the trees only so 
long as it seemed good sport; then they 
returned to camp, shot at a mark, bathed 
and fished. At one place they were star- 
tled by a heavy splash and the sight of a 
large dark body shooting under the water 
at great speed. Harry said that it was 
184 


In Camp as Pecau’hunters 

an otter, a most industrious and fatal 
fisherman, particularly to the smaller- 
finned things that stayed near to the bank. 

In a pool they found the bodies of sev- 
eral perch whose heads had been neatly 
severed. Harry pronounced this the work 
of the otter, but Juan smiled as he shook 
his black head. 

“ Tor-r-tugas ! ” he announced. 

“He means turtles,” said the young 
ranchman, and then he asked for expla- 
nation. 

Juan, after much questioning, explained 
that the turtle catches perch by burying 
itself in the mud of the bottom and pro- 
jecting its long, slender red tongue, which 
the incautious fish believes is a worm, en- 
deavors to seize, and is clamped by the 
iron jaws. 

Late in the afternoon, as they were ly- 
ing about the camp munching pecans, 
whose flavor Donald improved by the 
addition of semi-liquid peloncillo, Harry 
suddenly asked Kalph: 

185 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

‘‘Did you ever shoot a deer?” 

“ Why, no ! ” was the astonished reply. 
“Did you?” 

“A number. Would you like to try 
one?” 

Laughing at the absurdity of the ques- 
tion, Kalph admitted that he should very 
much. 

“Well,” was the matter-of-course reply, 
“ you can in half an hour, if you care to. 
Get your rifle and come’ along.” 

Still incredulous, Ralph went into the 
tent, reappeared with the gun, and fol- 
lowed his cousin, who struck off at right 
angles to the stream. The chaparral was 
fairly open, and they made good prog- 
ress, though the young leader seemed in 
no hurry. He treated the excursion 
much as if he were going into the home, 
corral to mark a fat sheep for slaughter. 
Meanwhile Donald, highly amused by the 
expedition and his brother’s trustfulness 
in what he esteemed to be one of Harry’s 
“jokes,” though he had never known him 
186 


In Camp as Pecan-hunters 

to tell an untruth, lay flat on his back, 
kicked up his heels, laughed heartily, and 
munched pecans. Juan, stomach to the 
ground and his chin on his brown Angers, 
stared at him steadily with black eyes and 
said nothing. Harry explained to his 
companion, as they proceeded, that the 
killing of deer in the middle of the day 
was a difficult thing, because they were 
lying in the thickest undergrowth and 
were seldom in motion. 

“Early in the morning and late in the 
afternoon, however,” he said, “they are 
feeding in small glades, and it is easy to 
get one. You travel up-wind to prevent 
the scent carrying, make as little noise as 
possible, approach within a hundred yards, 
and then, if your hand is steady, you have 
venison. They are thick about here. You 
find your glade, and you find your deer.” 

After a walk of three quarters of a mile 
through mixed catclaw and mesquit, Harry, 
who was in front and unarmed, suddenly 
paused, stooped, and motioned his cousin 
187 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

forward. Peering anxiously ahead, Ralph 
saw a large light spot showing between 
the trees. 

‘‘That is a glade,” whispered Harry. 
“ Go to it carefully, and keep your eyes 
open.” 

Bending almost double, clutching his 
gun spasmodically, holding his breath as 
long as possible, and with his blood ham- 
mering in his ears, Ralph crept forward. 
After going fifty yards, he stopped from 
sheer inability to proceed. A rest of a 
minute or two steadied him, however, and 
he went on, putting one foot before the 
other as softly as if he were walking on 
egg-shells. He avoided twigs with ex- 
cessive care. Twenty yards farther on, 
parting the branches of a low-growing 
mimosa, and gazing through, he found 
that he could see one half of the glade. 
It was a little open place, not larger than 
thirty yards long by ten wide. Nearly 
in its center were grazing five large brown 
animals which the boy knew at once were 
188 


In Camp as Pecan-hunters 

deer. They were a buck with a beautiful 
pair of horns for which Ealph’s soul 
yearned, two smaller bucks, a doe and a 
yearling with small knobs of horn just 
showing. They were not more than fifty 
yards away, and were feeding quietly, 
utterly unconscious of his presence. The 
buck with the splendid horns was, of 
course, his mark. He raised his gun and 
endeavored to aim correctly, but was sur- 
prised to find the muzzle jumping about 
in a mad manner, now sighting at the 
sky, now pointing at the ground a little 
in front of him. Lowering the weapon, 
he was equally surprised to find that he 
was trembling violently in every limb, 
while drops of perspiration started from 
his forehead and streamed down his nose. 
He had “buck ague,” a complaint of 
which he had never heard, but which was 
caused by his long crawl through the 
chaparral, his excitement, and the desper- 
ation with which he had held his breath. 
He was in a quandary. He waited a min- 
189 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

ute, but got worse. The deer continued 
to feed as if there were no such thing 
as a ^N^ew York City boy in the world. 
Ralph had wild thoughts of firing his gun 
into the air, anywhere, anyhow, and re- 
turning with the admission that he had 
missed, when he heard a subdued chuckle, 
and, glancing back, saw his cousin within 
two feet of him. So quietly had the boy 
approached that not a grass-blade had 
rustled. 

“ Got it, have you ? ” whispered Harry, 
grinning. “ Never mind. Everybody gets 
it at first. Give me your hand.” 

He took Ralph’s hot, wet hand into his 
own cool palm, and in a moment the trem- 
bling ceased and the young hunter’s 
breathing became regular. They stood 
so for a second or two. 

^‘Now,” Harry murmured, ‘Hake the 
buck through the shoulders — not behind 
the shoulders, because if hit there he may 
run a half-mile — straight through the 
shoulders, and draw a fine bead. That 
Winchester throws up a little.” 

190 


In Camp as Pecan-hunters 

Resting the gun upon a fork of the 
mesquit and sighting carefully, Ralph let 
drive. Almost at the crack of the gun 
the buck, the doe, and the two smaller 
bucks crashed into the undergrowth on 
the far side of the glade, their white tails 
waving like banners as they disappeared; 
but the yearling, which had been stand- 
ing a yard to the right of the largest ani- 
mal, kicked convulsively on the sward 
for a moment, then was still. The boys 
dashed forward and stood over the deer, 
which had been struck through the head. 

“ Why,” said Harry, in wonder, “ that 
was a corking good shot, and this fellow 
is better venison, — but I thought you 
were shooting at the buck.” 

Within two seconds Ralph fought an- 
other fight with himself, and conquered. 

“ I — I was,” he admitted shamefacedly. 
“ I wanted the horns. I did n’t know this 
deer was on earth.” 

Harry looked at him kindly and with 
an added respect in his eyes. 

“ That ’s good,” he said simply. 

191 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

every boy would own right up in that 
way, Ealph. You ’ll shoot better next 
time.” 

It may be said here that before they 
left Eincon Eanch Ealph did shoot better 
several times. 

Harry rapidly made two incisions in the 
animal’s hind legs near the hoofs, and ran 
a stout stick through. Then, with his 
hunting-knife, he chopped a branch from 
a mesquit some six feet above the ground. 
Together they lifted the young deer and 
hung it to the stump of the branch by the 
stake through the tendons of its legs. 
Grail oching it was a work of five minutes. 
The carcass was wiped dry with large 
bunches of grass. Harry lifted it lightly 
down, brought the head back to the stake, 
and fastened it there with twine, making, 
virtually, a circle of the body. He swung 
this circle around his neck much as a lady 
wears her boa, and so trotted merrily back 
to camp, Ealph following him and ex- 
plaining at every other step just how the 
192 


In Camp as Pecan-hunters 

gun happened to joggle so widely at the 
moment the trigger was pulled, and how, 
when within shooting-distance of the next 
deer, he intended to take a long breath, 
close only his left eye, and become more 
rigid than a rock. When Donald saw 
them, he rose, stiffened himself from 
heels to head, and fell backward, giving 
his idea of a dead faint as he had seen it 
many times on the stage. Juan, instantly 
awake, busied himself taking off the skin. 
It was the unanimous verdict of the party 
that if there is anything in the world bet- 
ter than venison steak, it is venison ribs 
dashed with pepper and salt and roasted 
before a camp-fire. 


13 


193 


CHAPTEE XII 


THE NOBLE SCIENCE OF WOODCRAFT 

I EAXIXG far back, with the slight 
J remains of his breakfast before him, 
Donald tilted his tin coffee-cup until its 
rim rested upon the junction of his eye- 
brows. The coffee had vanished some 
time before, but he wanted the last few 
grains of wet sugar. Then he straight- 
ened up, looked at his companions, smiled 
widely, as was his custom when fed, and 
said: “ Lots of pecans here. We ’ll make 
a killing to-day.” 

“ Eight,” answered Harry. “We ought 
to get five bushels at least.” 

Ealph said nothing. He was indus- 
triously rubbing the rifle, which already 
shone, and thinking of his future career 
194 


The Noble Science of Woodcraft 

as a hunter. He had waked a dozen 
times in the night with thinking about the 
deer. Meantime Juan, who was like an 
Indian in that he would eat so long as 
anything was within reach, continued 
stowing away food. Harry walked over 
to him, picked him up, shook him slightly, 
— to “ settle his breakfast,” he said, — 
then carried him away from the wagon- 
cover on which the food was spread. Be- 
ing set down, Juan said never a word, 
but blinked his black eyes slowly. 

Well,” said Donald, rising and kick- 
ing first one leg and then the other, I 
have n’t eaten anything except a quail and 
some steak and some roasted rib and 
some bacon and four biscuit and a cup of 
coffee and two apples, — why did n’t we 
think to bring some milk? — so I ’m light 
and ready to climb. Ralph, brace up! 
Where ’s my thrashing-pole? Where ’s 
my hat?” 

He started up the creek, whistling 
shrilly. Juan rose instantly and fol- 
195 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

lowed two paces to the rear. Harry and 
Ralph, as became their greater age and 
dignity, were more leisurely. Harry 
rolled up the tarpaulin and slung it over 
his shoulder. They picked up their 
thrashing-poles and went slowly on the 
track of the two younger boys, who were 
a hundred yards ahead. Looking behind 
him and noting this fact, the spirit of 
mischief which abides in all small boys 
prompted Donald to a proposal. 

“You can climb better than either of 
them, Juan,” he said, “ and we both can 
thrash just as well. Let ’s keep away 
from them and beat them gathering 
pecans.” 

“Fo’ w’at?” asked Juan, who lacked 
the Anglo-Saxon instinct of contest for 
contest’s sake. 

“ Why, just to beat them, of course.” 

The Mexican boy could see nothing in 
that, but he regarded Donald as a sort of 
superior being whose commands or sug- 
gestions were not to be questioned, so 
196 


The Noble Science of Woodcraft 

he answered, “Hall ri’,” and followed 
steadily. 

To carry out the brilliant scheme which 
had come to him, Donald crossed the 
creek on a fallen log, and left the stream 
at his rear, pushing straight out into the 
grove. Having traveled a quarter of a 
mile in this way, he turned to the right 
and went a quarter of a mile farther. 
The pecan-trees were still thick about 
them. He halted by one of great girth, 
whose branches came almost to the 
ground, and intimated that he would 
take that one. Juan selected one more 
difficult to mount but equally fruitful, 
and the blows of the poles sounded 
through the woods. It was only when 
they had thrashed the trees completely 
and had descended that Donald remem- 
bered that they were without a tarpaulin. 
However, the ground was nearly bare, 
and they gathered the nuts rapidly, stow- 
ing them into large bags they had brought. 
These bags held near a bushel each, and, 
197 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

though the two had lost many of the nuts, 
were nearly filled when they had gathered 
all they could find without extra trouble. 

‘‘We ’ll have to go back to camp,” said 
Donald, “ and empty the sacks.” 

They were on the outer edge of the 
pecan grove, within twenty yards of the 
tangle of chaparral. As he spoke he saw 
a strange little animal come two feet from 
the underbrush, then waddle back. It had 
a long body, a sharp snout, and it was 
covered with horny ringed plates, like a 
coat of mail. Juan saw it at the same 
instant, and said simply : “Armadillo.” 

“ Come on ! ” Donald said excitedly, 
throwing down his bag of nuts. “ Let ’s 
catch it! Ralph may kill deer, but he ’s 
not the only pebble on the beach.” 

“ He ees not,” Juan acquiesced gravely, 
though he had not an idea of his friend’s 
meaning. 

Together they entered the chaparral. 
The animal, of course, was not in sight, 
but the soil was sandy and bare, and for 
198 



DONALD AND JUAN HUNT THE ARMADILLO IN THE CHAPARRAL. 



llie Noble Science of Woodcraft 

a hundred yards the marks of its peculiar 
claw-like feet were plainly visible. The 
boys trotted hurriedly along this trail, 
vaulting over a low cactus here, going 
around a high one there, disentangling 
their clothing from the clinging catclaw, 
and expecting each moment to see the 
armadillo scramble away from them. Sud- 
denly they came to a denser portion of 
the thicket, and the trail grew fainter. 
It was still discernible in places, how- 
ever, and they wormed their way for- 
ward. They covered a half-mile in this 
way. 

Donald, leading the way, was in a sev- 
enth heaven. This, indeed, was sport. 
All the tales of border warfare he had 
ever read, and their name was legion, 
came back to him. He remembered 
how ‘‘Old Shot-in-the-Eye,” who never 
missed his Indian, used to pursue the un- 
fortunate warriors through the forest. It 
was the habit of “ Old Shot-in-the-Eye ” 
to walk stealthily and peer around tree- 
201 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

trunks, and listen intently to the flutter 
of birds and chatter of squirrels, which 
always betrayed the presence of the cop- 
per-colored foe. Donald imitated him as 
well as he knew how. He parted the 
tangle and glanced ahead of him. He 
laid his ear to the ground, and, arising, 
shook his head gravely. He brought his 
nose within two inches of the grass and 
glared intently. He stopped occasion- 
ally, crouched low, and waved his com- 
panion to halt. He said Hist ! ” at fre- 
quent intervals. Sometimes, on sandy 
spots, he found the marks of claws. 
The tracks might have been made by 
the armadillo they had seen, or by leop- 
ard-cats, or by skunks. Donald did not 
know. 

This was kept up for an hour, the inde- 
fatigable scout enjoying every moment 
of it. Juan viewed these antics with 
round eyes in which there was not a sug- 
gestion of a smile, or impatience, or won- 
der, or any emotion whatever. Anything 
202 


The Noble Science of Woodcraft 

which Senor Don chose to do was hall 
ri’.” If it amused him to creep through 
the brush all day, inspecting the ground 
and saying “Hist!” it was well. They 
crossed rocky stretches and grassy 
stretches, sandy stretches and wet 
stretches. 

Then, perspiration in his eyes and a crick 
in his back, Donald straightened up with 
the knowledge that not only had all trail- 
marks disappeared, but that he had not 
the slightest idea of where he was or 
how far it was to camp. It would never 
do, however, to confess this. He told 
himself that he would find the way back 
and, at the same time, avoid terrifying 
Juan. He climbed a little eminence that, 
pebble-clad, reared itself amid the under- 
growth, and looked about him. On every 
hand was a sea of mesquit and cact^. The 
line of pecans and cottonwoods along the 
arroyo was not visible. He came down and, 
with a fair imitation of jauntiness, plunged 
into the growth, walking rapidly. Juan, un- 
203 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

questioning, trotted behind him. Another 
half-hour passed. Occasionally Donald 
stooped as if looking for a trail, but his 
heart was getting sick and his limbs were 
weary. Still he went on. Now and then 
he endeavored to chatter, but it was too 
much of an effort. He sank into silence. 
Thick gray clouds had covered the sky, 
and the position of the sun was hidden. 

An hour went by, and he came to an- 
other small hill. He went to its summit 
and gazed about him. Still the same sea 
of mesquit met his view. Something 
familiar in the appearance of the mound 
attracted his attention, and he examined 
it closely. He found the marks of his 
own shoe heels. It was the little eleva- 
tion he had climbed nearly two hours 
before. This seemed to him a strange 
and terrible thing. For a moment he 
was upon the verge of sobbing. He was 
not acquainted with the fixed tendency 
of all lost animals to travel in a circle. 
It was nearly the dinner-hour ; his unfail- 
204 


The Noble Science of Woodcraft 

ing appetite told him that much. He was 
both weak and hungry. It was time to 
take his brown companion into his con- 
fidence, so he descended the mound, and, 
with a slight tremor in his voice, he turned 
toward the Mexican boy and said frankly : 

“ Juan, we ’re lost.” 

The Mexican boy, who in the vast wil- 
derness seemed very small indeed, an- 
swered without emotion: 

’Ow los’?” 

‘‘We ’re lost, lost! I can’t find my 
way; don’t know where we are. Why, I 
can’t find the camp.” 

“ Senor Don want fin’ camp ? ” 

“Yes, yes! Of course. I ’m hungry.” 

“ Eat pear-apples.” 

This had not occurred to Donald, but 
he had no stomach for pear-apples, any- 
how. What he wanted was Harry and 
Kalph and venison. He remembered that 
at noon they were to have had a saddle of 
the deer, baked in the ground. Harry 
had dug the hole the night before, heated 
205 


The Boys of the Rineon Ranch 

it red-hot, put the meat into the little 
grave, and covered it over with twigs and 
dirt. There was nothing better on earth, 
he had said. Tears rose to Donald’s eyes. 
He felt that it was noon or later, and that 
by this time the saddle of venison was 
done to a turn. 

Juan took no note of his patron’s anxi- 
ety or the moisture on his lids. Being 
lost in the chaparral was not a matter of 
extreme gravity to him. It had happened 
to him before, and doubtless would hap- 
pen again. It was all as the good God 
directed. He glanced up at the sky and 
could see no sun. He trotted to the top 
of the hill, stuck his forefinger into his 
mouth, and held it up to ascertain the di- 
rection of the wind. He came to the bot- 
tom and looked around him. There was a 
small open space at the base of the hill, 
and on the edge of the clear ground a 
large mesquit was growing. He went to 
this tree and examined it with care, noting 
it especially near to the ground. Then, 
206 


The Noble Science of Woodcraft 

without a word of explanation, he started 
into the brush. 

Donald followed and carefully kept 
within two feet of him, being dreadfully 
afraid that he would lose sight of him. 
After a hundred yards or so, he panted: 

“Where you going, Juan?” 

“ Goin’ camp, Sehor Don,” was the easy 
reply. 

They went onward for a half-mile, then 
came to a space upon which no grass 
grew. It was deeply scored by the feet 
of wild animals. In its center was a red- 
dish rock two feet across and ten inches 
high. J uan stooped to examine this rock, 
straightened up, and altered his course 
slightly, once more entering the chap- 
arral. 

For half an hour he went steadily. He 
stopped upon the edge of a small prairie 
and looked about him. Evidently it was 
unfamiliar to him, but he did not seem dis- 
couraged. Indeed, he was perfectly at 
home. His eyes had an intent expres- 
207 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

sion, and occasionally he muttered in pa- 
tois. He did not know one letter from 
another, but he was reading a book that 
had been his constant companion since 
infancy: IN^ature was spreading her pages 
for him. He cast about for a while in the 
grass, covering a space of an acre in his 
quest. Then he stopped and pointed to 
a small yellow flower, a late survival that 
in a damp and semi- sheltered place reared 
its little head. 

’Sta bueno [it is well] ,” he said, 
though what he meant Donald could not 
imagine. 

Once more he set off, threading his way 
through a wilderness of mesquits, hui- 
saches, mimosas, cacti, and underbrush. 
He went on a straight line. When forced 
to diverge slightly by some clump of giant 
cacti, he resumed it as soon as he had 
half-circled the obstruction. After twenty 
minutes of this work he paused, bent his 
black head to one side, and smiled. It 
was not often that Juan smiled, but when 
208 


The Noble Science of Woodcraft 

his lips parted and his white teeth 
gleamed, his face assumed a singularly 
merry and childlike expression. An in- 
nocent boy-baby of three years would 
look so. Donald, listening too, heard a 
low murmur, steady and sweet. 

“Agua [water] ! ” said Juan. 

They pressed forward, for both were 
thirsty. 

Indeed, the erstwhile fluent tongue of 
the American lad was cleaving to the 
furry roof of his mouth. First they left 
the brush behind them and emerged into 
a grove of pecans. Then ahead of him 
he saw two white objects — the bags of 
pecans, which lay as they had been left. 
The boys picked them up and half ran 
toward the water. A moment later both 
were down upon their stomachs with 
faces half buried in the cool stream. 
They drank and drank and drank. 
Then Donald rose, sighed heavily, and 
asked : 

Can’t you smell that dinner? ” 

14 209 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

Juan smiled again and shook his head. 
Once more he resumed his submissive 
place in the rear. Once more Donald be- 
came chatty and masterful. They crossed 
the creek on the log they had found in 
early morning. The older boys were in 
camp, waiting for them and slightly 
anxious. Harry had not disturbed the 
saddle of venison, as the hour was only a 
little past noontime. He unearthed it 
while Donald was explaining, and a deli- 
cious scent was on the air. When he 
had administered a slight check to his 
hunger, Donald looked at his cousin 
gravely, and said: 

“But how did Juan find his way back 
so easily? Did he know where we 
were? ” 

Harry shook his head negatively. It 
was not his custom to lecture. Indeed, 
he was at pains to avoid any display of 
superior knowledge, teaching his young 
relatives more by way of example. Now, 
however, he said : 


210 


The Noble Science of Woodcraft 

“Juan found his way back because he 
is able to read signs. You would learn 
to do the same in a little while, and, as 
you are more intelligent, to do it better 
than he. Listen to what I am going to 
say, and if you get lost again, remember 
it.” 

Ralph coughed portentously, and said: 
“Hear! Hear!” 

Donald, however, whose experience was 
fresh upon him, was gravely intent. He 
told his brother, with sternness, to “ chase 
himself.” Juan, not understanding, or 
caring nothing about it, continued busily 
eating. Harry went on : 

“ When you discover that you are lost, 
first stop and pull yourself together. Re- 
call the direction in which you started 
from camp — whether you went north, 
south, east, or west. You can always do 
this if you try. The next step is to fix 
the points of the compass. When that is 
done, you will be able to go in the general 
direction you wish. Find a mature tree 
211 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

that stands apart from its fellows. Even 
if it is only slightly separated it will do. 
The bark of this tree will be harder, drier, 
and lighter in color on the south side. 
On the north it will be darker, and often 
at the roots it will have a clump of mold 
or moss. On the south sides of all ever- 
green trees, gum, which oozes from 
wounds or knot-holes, will be hard and 
amber-colored; on the north this gum is 
softer, gets covered with dust, and is of 
a dirty gray. In fall or winter, trees 
which show a rough bark will have nests 
of insects in the crevices on their south 
sides. A tree which stands in the open 
will have its larger limbs and rougher 
bark on the south side. You have many 
evergreens in your part of the country, 
cone-bearing, or coniferous, trees — firs, 
spruce, cedars, hemlocks, pines. They 
ought to be good compasses. Hard-wood 
trees — the oak, the ash, elms, hickories, 
mesquits, and so forth — have moss and 
mold on the north. Leaves are smaller, 
212 


The Noble Science of Woodcraft 

tougher, lighter in color, and with darker 
veins on the south ; on the north they are 
longer, of darker green, and with lighter 
veins. Spiders build on the south sides. 
In the South air-plants attach themselves 
to the north sides. Cedars bend their tips 
to the south. Any sawed or cut stump 
will give you the compass points, because 
the concentric rings are thicker on the 
south side. The heart of the stump is 
thus nearer to the north side. All these 
things are the effects of sun. Stones 
are bare on the south side, and if they 
have moss at all, it will be on the north. 
At best, on the sunny side only a thin 
covering of harsh, half-dry moss will be 
found. On the south side of a hill the 
ground is more noisy underfoot. On the 
north side ferns, mosses, and late flowers 
grow. If you are on a marsh, small 
bushes will give you the lesson; their 
leaves and limbs show the same differ- 
ences. Almost all wild flowers turn their 
faces to the south. There are many other 
213 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

signs, but I reckon you will find these 
enough.” 

The boys had listened in silence. 
Donald said: 

“ That seems easy. I believe I ’ll go 
out and get lost again just to show myself 
that I can’t get lost.” 

Here, for the first and only time in his 
life, Juan displayed a flash of humor. 

^‘Don’ do eet, Sehor Don,” he said. 
“ Las j)alomitas might bite you.” 

Palomitas are little doves the size of a 
man’s thumb. 


214 


CHAPTER XIII 


A TEARING RIDE THROUGH THE 
CHAPARRAL 

R IDIXG along a narrow road which 
^ ran in an easterly direction from the 
ranch-house, the three boys were followed 
by the ranch pack of dogs. These ani- 
mals were of mixed breeds, and belonged, 
for the most part, to the cow-boys. Sharp 
of nose, scraggy of form, with erect ears 
and half-savage eyes, many of them looked 
more like wolves than like tame members 
of the canine family. This likeness was 
helped by their color, which, in most in- 
stances, was an undecided brindle, shad- 
ing off into dirty gray. Their noses were 
keen, however ; they were stanch runners, 
as they had proved upon more than one 
215 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

occasion; and when it came to close 
quarters with the giant lobo-wolf, the 
smaller prairie-wolf, a wild boar, a 
leopard-cat, or even with a wounded 
buck in his fourth year, they went in, 
regardless of hurt, and fought straight 
on to the end. 

Harry had invited his cousins to wit- 
ness a chase of the peccary, or wild hog 
of the Southwest. The time was near to 
the end of January. The boys had be- 
come thorough horsemen, and rather liked 
to show off their accomplishment. The 
prairie had lost its last hint of green, and 
was a gray-brown everywhere. From 
the pecans and other deciduous trees the 
leaves had fallen. The mesquits, how- 
ever, were thick and shining as of old. 
There had been many northers, to the 
discomfort of the natives and the joy of 
the Crugers. On one terrible night in 
particular, not soon to be forgotten by 
the Mexicans, ice had formed a quarter 
of an inch thick. During this night the 
216 


Tearing through the Chaparral 

dogs had whined pitifully, and in the 
morning the horses looked wilted. 

As they rode along the young ranch- 
man was explaining to them the appear- 
ance and peculiarities of the peccary. 

■ “He is an Ishmaelite,” the boy said. 
“ His tusks are against everything, and 
every breathing thing is against him. 
He is obstinate, strong, violent, swift, 
enduring, and courageous. The Mexi- 
cans call this animal javalina (pro- 
nounced havaleener), from the resem- 
blance between the sharp bristles of its 
neck and back and a javelin. The java- 
lina runs in bands of from five to twenty- 
five, and subsists on herbs or roots, 
though it will eat flesh gladly when it 
can get it. It will not attack man unless 
in large numbers, and not then unless the 
blood of its kind has been shed. Then 
it becomes unrelenting. It has been 
known to stay twenty-four hours under 
a tree in which a man had taken refuge. 
There is an authenticated instance of a 
217 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

band of peccaries destroying a man who 
fell from the mesquit into which he had 
climbed. A drove will always attack a 
dog if it can reach him, and if he is sur- 
rounded, he is killed and eaten. A sin- 
gle full-grown boar is a match for any 
two dogs to be found in this country. 
We have a pack of eight lighters, and 
if we have the luck to strike the trail 
of an old boar to-day, you will see a 
battle royal.” 

Three miles from the house Harry 
struck off into the mesquit, and bunching 
the dogs, sent them out ahead, where they 
scattered, running eagerl}^ with noses to 
the ground, knowing that the business 
of the day had begun. They struck first 
the trail of a wildcat, which they treed 
after a run of five hundred yards. Harry 
told Donald to shoot the animal, adding 
that it was very destructive to birds and 
chickens. Donald shot it, but saw that 
its skin was worthless, and let it lie where 
it fell. Several deer were started, but to 
218 


Tearing through the Chaparral 

these the pack paid no attention. Then, 
after nosing and opening on a peccary 
trail more than a day old, the dogs were 
called in, and, by the side of an arroyo, 
the boys had luncheon. So far the day 
had been productive of but one incident, 
and they felt disappointed. Their young 
host assured them, however, that they 
would have better luck in the afternoon. 
They were ten miles from home, and it 
was his purpose to try a wild part of the 
range, lying partly upon his mother’s 
land and partly upon the ranch of their 
nearest neighbor, whom they had not seen 
since the spring round-up. The sun was 
still hot in the middle of the day, and 
after eating they rested until three 
o’clock, the dogs lying about with their 
red tongues lolling, and the horses hop- 
pled and grazing peacefully. When the 
signal to mount was given, Kalph started 
to the arroyo to water his animal, but 
Hariy stopped him. 

“We are likely to have a hard run,” 
219 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

he said, “ and the sorrel will do better 
without water. Give him half he can 
drink afterward, but not before.” 

That ’s right, Ralph,” said Donald, 
with a grin. “ You remember when you 
ran in the fifty-yard race at school the 
trainer would n’t let you have any water. 
You got beat all right, all right; but you 
ran dry.” 

Six months before Ralph would have 
resented this. Yow he only laughed, and 
said: “I ’ll show ’em something when I 
get back.” 

The dogs, some hundred yards in front, 
were traversing a country which was 
sparsely overgrown. Tails erect and 
heads down, they quartered to and fro, 
now and then an impatient whine coming 
from one of them. 

“We are likely to jump something at 
any minute,” said Harry, “ and a last 
word before the fun begins : best hold the 
horses in a bit; you might overrun the 
dogs. If you bolt into a bed of cactus, 
220 


Tearing through the Chaparral 

sit tight and let the horse buck out of it, 
which he will do right away. They are 
brush ponies, and they know that is the 
only way in which they can get out.” 

As he ceased speaking, the foremost 
dog, a huge yellow animal, gaunt, with 
powerful haunches and glistening fangs, 
threw his big head in air and uttered a 
short, savage yelp. The others, crowd- 
ing in behind him, gave tongue also. 
Then they became silent and, with heads 
once more lowered, trotted forward 
swiftly. 

“It is javalina, all right,” said Harry, 
“but the trail is not warm. They will 
stretch themselves when the thing begins 
its run.” 

A half-mile was covered when the 
leader once more opened and broke into 
half speed, the others sticking by him 
and loudly clamoring. 

“ He ’s jumped ! ” Harry called ex- 
citedly. “ That ’s the fresh trail. Come 


221 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

He loosened the reins and dashed 
away at a free gallop, clearing a four- 
foot cactus within twenty yards as lightly 
as a bird, and sweeping forward without 
check of any kind. Ralph swung to the 
right and Donald to the left of this ob- 
struction, because their blood was not 
yet up, and pulled in behind their cousin. 
Then a great mesquit separated them; 
they ran into a piece of brush, cactus- 
grown, through which they worked only 
at a trot, and when they had passed it 
pressed their horses in order to recovei* 
lost ground. Looking around him, Ralph 
could not see Harry nor his brother. He 
could hear the beat of the hoofs, however, 
and knew that they were both parallel 
with him and on his right. From ahead 
came the yelping of the dogs, which were 
tearing along now, close to top speed, 
and making the waste resound. The boy 
was nearly swept from the saddle by an 
overhanging limb, and knew that the 
time had come for him to follow advice 
222 


- 


Tearing through the Chaparral 

and “sit tight,” as well as to keep his 
eyes open. 

Moreover, the hunter fever was burn- 
ing in him. It seemed to him a better 
thing that he should let out a link or two 
and get nearer the dogs, incidentally 
heading his companions. So he spurred 
the sorrel, which immediately bounded a 
good ten feet, then settled down to 
more than half racing-speed. The boy 
ran so for a half-mile, burst through some 
smaller branches, and came out into an 
open space a hundred yards across. The 
tail of the last dog was disappearing into 
the green wall of growth on the other 
side. When half-way across Kalph saw 
his brother and cousin break out of 
the thicket behind him. Harry was 
calm and smiling, evidently enjoying 
himself to the uttermost, and he saluted 
Ralph’s comfortable lead with a hearty 
“ Good boy ! ” 

Down Donald’s face a thin stream 
of blood was trickling, — he had been 
223 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

scratched by a mesquit-thorn, — but he was 
hallooing at the top of his shrill voice and 
sending the bay along in handsome style. 

Just ahead of Ealph was a small in- 
dentation in the solid front of shrubbery, 
and without knowing or thinking what it 
might be, he dashed into it, the sorrel 
taking to it kindly. Before covering 
twenty yards he saw that he had struck 
a goat-path, two feet wide and reasonably 
straight. Branches of mesquit and hui- 
sache overhung it here and there, but it 
was clear underfoot. It widened in places 
almost to wagon-road width. He over- 
hauled the dogs rapidly, and soon noted 
that they were near the path and running 
along it. He had nothing to fear now, 
only a watch to keep for tree-limbs, so he 
sat at ease, took a strong pull upon the 
sorrel, and settled into a steady gallop. 
Bending half-way to the pommel, and 
looking keenly between his horse’s ears, 
he saw suddenly a rough brown object 
shoot across one of the widenings of the 
224 




Tearing through the Chaparral 

path. The animal was over in an instant, 
yet not so quickly that Ralph could not 
see it distinctly. It was a boar of age 
and massive strength, standing nearly 
two feet high at the shoulder, its bristles 
erect upon its neck and back, yellowish 
tusks npcnrving from its jaws, foam 
hanging to its lips. It crashed into the un- 
derbrush on the far side of the little open- 
ing. Instinctively Ralph dropped his 
pace to a trot. A moment afterward — 
there could not have been more than fifty 
yards between them and their quarry — 
the pack streamed across, a Babel of 
noises in their throats. Ralph generously 
called to his companions that the boar 
had turned, giving the view-halloo with 
all of his lungs, then half wheeled and 
followed. The chaparral grew thinner 
and the pace became terrific. Suddenly, 
emerging from under the low-hanging 
limbs of a mesquit, to avoid which the 
boy had thrown himself almost prone in the 
saddle, the sorrel plunged into a bed of 
15 225 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

cactus which bristled to a height of three 
feet and extended some twenty yards. 
The rider had barely time to sit erect and 
clamp his knees when down went the 
horse’s head, up came his back, and he 
bucked madly and blindly straight ahead. 
Ralph’s first thought was that he could 
not possibly stay on, but he stayed on. 
Then he thought that his head would be 
inevitably jerked off; but he stiffened 
his spinal column, and, in some miraculous 
manner, his head remained on his shoul- 
ders. Then he knew that the pony was 
going much higher than the trees he 
could dimly see ahead of him. Then he 
wished complacently that Harry and Don- 
ald were there to see him ride. Then, with 
a huge, tall, last phenomenal bound, the 
sorrel was through, his legs filled with 
yellow needles, but his gallant little heart 
beating as gamely as ever and his stomach 
a foot nearer to the ground. So tremen- 
dous was the speed that Ralph was sur- 
prised when he saw a form flitting thirty 
226 





THE CHASE OF THE PECCARY, 


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I 


t 


« Pt 



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SJ. 

0 

f 





• . fl 




111 


■■»;•■ 'j; 





Tearing through the Chaparral 

yards to his left, and, looking closely be- 
tween the tree intervals as they flashed 
past, saw that it was Harry, who lifted 
his hat and waved it cheerily. This was 
nothing to the sense of paralysis which 
stole over him when, glancing to the 
right, he made out another form which in 
a moment resolved itself into Donald. 
This young gentleman had no hat at all. 
His brown hair stood out from his head, 
and he was endeavoring frantically to 
yell, but his voice was all gone. Perched 
on the bay, with his knees drawn con- 
vulsively up, his jacket flapping, streaks 
of dried blood on his browned face, and 
his unoccupied hand wildly waving in 
air, he looked like an undersized maniac. 
There was no room in Ralph for envy, 
however. “Evidently,” he thought, “ I ’m 
not the only Cruger who has learned how 
to ride.” So, in imitation of Harry’s for- 
mer salute, he turned in the saddle and 
called cheerily to his little brother, “Good 
boy! ” Don did not hear him nor see him. 
His whole soul was in the chase. 

229 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

Suddenly, with no lightening of the air 
ahead, they dashed out of the chaparral 
to an open plain nearly three quarters of 
a mile across. A dried arroyo-bed ran 
through its middle, and on its farther side 
was a range of low bare hills. 

The quarry was in plain view, still fifty 
yards ahead of the pack, and going like 
a deer. The yelping of the dogs had 
changed to a wolfish snarling, coming 
from deep in their throats. Perhaps they 
had the memory of kindred to avenge. 
The big yellow leader, his black muzzle 
stretched far out and his tail like an iron 
bar, sailed straight on as mute as an In- 
dian. The javalina dashed into the creek- 
bed, and was up again. The dogs fol- 
lowed him without losing a yard. The 
horses, rising into the air, cleared it at a 
bound. To Ralph and Donald came a 
sense of exultation as they were thus 
hoisted into space and for a moment could 
not hear the incessant roll of the hoofs 
under them. 

On the far side of the stony little plain 
230 


Tearing through the Chaparral 

the boar turned at bay. His innate fero- 
city would not permit him to go another 
foot. He had chosen his spot well. At 
his back the hill, scarped by floods, rose 
straight as a wall and twenty feet above 
his head. Its sides came a little way 
toward his front, for the wall had been, 
in a measure, tunneled by the rains, form- 
ing a shallow recess. Into this recess, not 
more than a yard deep, he had dashed 
and wheeled. He had just time to brace 
himself for the shock when the pack 
streamed upon him. The yellow dog was 
first, and leaped for the nose-hold. The 
javalina raised its snout slightly, its two 
tusks caught its foeman squarely in the 
stomach, there was a rapid shifting of the 
head from left to right, from right to left, 
and the dog fell six feet away, gashed 
in three places, useless and bleeding, cast 
aside like so much rubbish. He was dead 
almost before he touched earth. The 
others fell upon the boar, however, in 
mass. Not a yelp came from them, not a 
bark, not a growl. They only sank in 
231 


The Boys of the Rineon Ranch 

their fangs and endeavored to bear him to 
the ground. Such was his giant strength 
that thrice he rose under them, once stand- 
ing upon his hind legs. Again he shook 
them off, and as they rushed in once more, 
the gleaming tusks played to and fro with 
the rapidity of lightning. For every 
movement there was a gash; but they 
were game, though mongrels, and they 
covered him as a blanket. Slowly the 
javalina yielded under the weight and the 
weakness caused by his wounds. One big 
brindled warrior worked its way behind 
him and grasped him by the haunch. 
Another worked its head below the 
gleaming scimitars of his jaws and 
clenched him by the throat. A hoarse 
screaming call came from him. Then he 
toppled over on his side, endeavored fee- 
bly to rise, and lay still, his small eyes 
defiant even in death. 

Harry sprang from his horse, and the 
brothers followed him. The dogs were 
wild with rage, but a few strokes of the 
232 


Tearing through the Chaparral 

whips quieted them. 'Not one of them 
was untouched. One of them, undersized 
but highly courageous, was badly ripped 
along the side. Harry placed it across 
his horse and tied it behind the saddle. 
It was taken to the ranch and nursed back 
to vigor. 

When they had examined the dead boar, 
and marveled at his strength and courage, 
Harry said: 

“If you have your hunting-knives I 
want you to help me. I am going to 
bury the yellow dog where he fell. He 
was too brave to be left to the coyotes.” 

So they dug his grave in the rocky soil, 
just at the entrance of the recess in which 
the great fight was fought. They piled 
a mound of rocks above it, and as they 
rode away Donald looked back at it with 
a mist in his eyes. He made a good deal 
of noise now and then, but there was a 
tender heart and a strong streak of senti- 
ment in Don. 


233 


CHAPTEE XIV 


GOOD-BY TO THE RAIS^CH OE THE 

“circle r” 

EEKS, in that almost perfect South- 



T T ern clime, flew by on silver wings. 
Each day was marked by some new ex- 
perience, some new thing learned, some 
step forward toward manliness and self- 
reliance and self-control, frankness and 
truth. Ealph, under the tutelage of 
Harry’s constant example, had learned 
not only to stick in the saddle as if born 
there, to hurl the lariat with some sure- 
ness of ensnaring his target, to ride all 
day without appreciable fatigue at night, 
to estimate the profits to be expected 
from horses, cattle, sheep, and goats, but 
to know that a quick hand and ready 


234 


Good-by to the Ranch of Circle R 

brain and fearlessness are things of 
steady value, and to have driven into 
him, so deeply that they were never up- 
rooted, the old, old lessons that success 
comes only through repeated failure, and 
that he is thrice brave and thrice a con- 
queror who conquers self. He had good 
stuff in him, this boy, and the semi-rough 
life brought it but. He was thrown from 
the saddle and badly jarred, but he arose 
with tight- shut lips and not a murmur of 
complaint. He suffered thirst on long 
journeys through arid portions of the 
land, and found that querulous words did 
not bring him any the nearer to water. 
His hands and face were gashed by 
thorns ; there were times when every 
bone in him ached from prolonged exer- 
tion; he suffered the pangs which come 
to every inexperienced person in a hard 
country: but he had never been so happy 
in his life. 

Donald, shepherded by Juan, lived in 
the chaparral about the house. He 
235 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

trapped blue quails, examined them ten- 
derly, and let them go, for Harry had 
said that to imprison and then murder 
them was ungentlemanly. He came to 
know the sharply marked trail of the 
leopard-cat, the broader indentations 
made by the gray bobtail, the gashes of 
the rabbit’s tooth on the younger shrubs, 
the destructive work of the peccaries, the 
curious circular depressions of rattlesnake 
coils in sandy spots; to watch the little 
shrikes, or “ butcher-birds,” slaying other 
birds and impaling the bodies on thorns; 
to note the differences between the calls 
of a dozen songsters and the imitations 
of them given by the mocking-bird; to 
tap and drink with relish the clear warm 
water in the veins of the maguey plant; 
and to do a hundred other things so 
foreign to his Northern life that he some- 
times doubted he was the same boy. 

Through it all the brothers continued 
to grow, mentally and physically. Red 
came into their tanned cheeks, their chests 
236 


Good-by to the Ranch of^^ Circle R’' 


stuck out, and they “trod like a buck in 
spring.” 

The change of the season was strange 
to them. Here was no snow to melt, no 
ice to grind and rend and crash its way 
out of the choked rivers, no late and 
treacherous winds of chill rushing from 
the east. They marked the coming of 
the hot months only by the increasing 
green of the prairies, the steadily mount- 
ing temperature, and the departure of 
some familiar birds for the North. The 
places of these were taken by other fliers 
which came up from the coast-lands of 
Mexico, and they were of a plumage to 
make the eyes ache. The boys knew, 
however, that all things must end, and so 
they were not surprised, one day, to hear 
their aunt say: 

“ Boys, I have heard from your mother, 
and she has been very lonely without you. 
She is asking for your return. It was 
generous of her to lend you to me, and 
she held her own pain as nothing when 
237 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

weighed against your health. But now 
she wants her own again. You have 
been happy here ? ” 

Harry looked grave. 

“ So happy, aunty,” said Donald, im- 
pulsively clasping his hands, ^Hhat we 
can’t begin to tell you how happy.” 

Ralph walked across the room, put both 
arms about her, and hugged her without 
speaking. 

“ You must see the sheep-shearing,” 
Mrs. Downing went on, her fingers play- 
ing with Ralph’s brown hair. “ It begins 
to-day. And then I must bid you good- 
by.” 

Are the Crugers to be blamed that they 
felt this as a sort of reprieve? They 
loved their mother truly, and they loved 
their old home in the city; but they were 
only boys, after all, and for the first time 
in their young lives they had drunk deeply 
of the sweet waters of utter freedom. 

The sheep-feature of the ranch life was 
something of which they had seen little. 

238 


Good-by to the Ranch of Circle R '' 

Some of the animals were kept in a corral 
near the house, but solely for food pur- 
poses; nor had they encountered many 
of them in their excursions, because the 
sheep-ranges were distinct from the cat- 
tle-ranges, and lay along the Kio Grande. 

That evening, near sunset, they saw a 
large body of objects coming over the 
hill to the eastward, and in a half-hour a 
drove of a thousand sheep had reached 
the ranch and been penned in corrals al- 
ready prepared. 

Rising at daylight, as was their custom, 
Ralph and Donald found that other flocks 
had come in during the night. Alto- 
gether not short of three thousand head 
were in the pens. These pens had been 
built close to the arroyo, and near by 
was a long, hastily constructed shed with 
a rough wooden floor, intended for the 
use of the shearers. The boys asked if 
the cow-hands were to do the work, and 
Harry laughed. 

“A vaquero,” he said, “a horseman 
239 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

with red sash, spurs, chaparejos, six- 
shooter and silver-trimmed hat, would 
consider himself to be eternally disgraced 
if he touched a live sheep in the way of 
labor. His acquaintance with a sheep is 
confined to eating it, which he is not too 
proud to do. ISTo, the vaqueros will not 
shear ; they will not even watch the shear- 
ing. They have gone to their ranges.” 

Walking among the jacals, the boys 
found that every man was absent. 

“’Ow, Sehor Don,” said Juan, in re- 
sponse to further questions, “ yo’ expec’ 
mi padre soil ees ’ands wit’ grease? Hit 
ees not so.” 

The family were seated at the dinner- 
table when a noise of a droning chant 
came to them. They went to the ve- 
randa, and saw a troop of some twenty 
Mexicans who were approaching the 
house. 

They were swarthy, powerful fellows, 
with sleeves rolled to their elbows, and a 
mixture of blankets and cooking-utensils 
240 


Good-hy to the Ranch of Circle R” 

strapped to their backs. They were sing- 
ing, in a long-drawn nasal manner, a song 
to the effect that the work-time was at 
hand, the time of labor and prosperity, 
and after it would come the dance with 
black-eyed girls to the music of fiddles 
and guitars. 

These,” said Harry, “ are the shear- 
ers. They come from Mexico at this time 
of year, and go about the country in 
bands, taking contracts from the ranch- 
men.” 

Their leader, a tall, graceful fellow, 
stepped forward, bowed with an exagger- 
ation of politeness, said “ Buenos dias ” 
to each in turn, and inquired where he 
might have the favor and the great plea- 
sure to find the sheep. 

Replying to him as “ Senor Capitano,” 
or Mr. Captain, Harry told him the sheep 
were corralled by the arroyo, and pointed 
the way. With another profound bow, 
el capitano turned to his men, gave some 
sort of order, and they marched off. 

16 241 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

Donald followed them instantly, and was 
surprised by the rapidity with which they 
made camp. They tossed their blankets 
and cooking-things to the ground, threw 
some sticks together, started a fire, and in 
five minutes coffee was bubbling merrily 
in a dozen pots. Out of their blankets 
came bread, meat, and tin cups. In the 
center of each roll were three pairs of 
shining shears, ground to razor keenness. 
They invited him warmly to partake, and 
as the cold mutton looked savory, and the 
bread had been baked in frying-pans, and 
the coffee was jet-black, he sat himself 
down and began. Harry and Ralph, hav- 
ing finished their dinners in a civilized 
manner, found him earnestly gorging him- 
self and listening gravely to the chatter 
around him, of which he comprehended 
one word in ten. 

The rude meal ended, the captain looked 
at Harry, who nodded and indicated the 
nearest pen with a wave of the hand. A 
signal was given, and the slothful men 
242 


Good-by to the Ranch of^^ Circle R "" 

were changed at once into machines of 
feverish activity. They grasped their 
shears, bounded over the corral fence, and 
five seconds later were crowding into the 
shed, each bearing a struggling sheep in 
his arms. Each dumped his burden upon 
the floor without ceremony, knelt by it, 
and the sharp steel began to click. The 
animals were not tied. As they struck 
the flooring and felt a hand pressing upon 
their heads they became quiescent, only 
their heaving sides showing their terror. 
These were ‘^graded” sheep; that is, they 
were a mixture of the native strains and 
merinos imported from Vermont. The 
wool upon each of them would average 
four pounds weight. It was astonishing 
to the Cruger boys to note the swiftness 
of the work. The fleeces came off in 
solid blankets. As they fell from the 
bodies they were rolled, tied with cord, 
and cast aside. The shorn sheep strug- 
gled to its feet and ran out at the other 
end of the shed, where it stood for a 
243 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

while disconsolate, then began to crop the 
green grass on the creek-bank. 

Many of them showed crimson marks 
where the eager steel had nipped them, 
but they did not seem to suffer at all. 
The twenty men accounted for two hun- 
dred sheep an hour, averaging ten apiece. 
There was much rivalry among them, and 
not a little chaff. A chorus of “Aya! 
Aya ! ” arose when a man, plunging into 
the pen, missed his hold. El capitano 
was especially remarkable for his speed 
and accuracy, and Harry said that he had 
been elected leader on that account. 

They worked until sunset, maintaining 
the same high-pressure speed, and when 
they quit more than a thousand fleeces 
were piled high in the shed. They were 
furnished with fresh mutton for supper, 
and after they had eaten, every man of 
them rolled a corn-shuck cigarito, lit it, 
squatted about the small Are, and began 
to sing. Their voices made pleasant har- 
mony. Then Antonio Garza, champion 
244 


Good-hjr to the Ranch of Circle R 

story-teller of the band, gave them Mexi- 
can folklore tales until bedtime, Harry 
translating smoothly and rapidly for his 
cousins. Ralph had thoughts of writing 
these stories for the benefit of city com- 
panions, but found that he had forgot- 
ten them in the morning. However, he 
heard many others while the shearers 
were with them, and some of them he re- 
membered. One in especial was dear to 
him. It was about a wonderfully speedy 
‘^paint-horse” of seven colors — black, 
white, bay, gray, sorrel, roan, and blue — 
which belonged to a handsome young 
chieftain who finally married a very beau- 
tiful young lady. 

On the second day of the shearing, 
Harry invited his cousins to try their 
hands at the work. “ Get off two fleeces,” 
he said, “take them home with you, and 
have them woven. You can then say that 
you wear clothing made of wool shorn 
with your own shears.” 

That struck them as an excellent idea. 


245 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

They leaped into the pen, and, after a 
wrestle, came out with a sheep each. In 
half an hour they had severed the fleeces 
and some bits of skin with them. It was 
fun. The small bundles were wrapped 
in paper and marked with their names. 
They found, on sending them to Massa- 
chusetts mills, that the wool was suffi- 
cient to provide them with two heavy 
suits of underclothes. Two other flocks 
came in from the river ranges, making 
more than five thousand head sheared in 
all. Three days were required for the 
work. Then el cajpitano and his in- 
fantry went away, seeking fresh flocks to 
conquer. 

The boys assisted in dipping ” the 
shorn flocks. In an outhouse was a vat 
ten feet long, five feet wide, and six feet 
deep. It was filled with a strong de- 
coction of tobacco-leaves and chemicals, 
steaming hot. An inclined chute led into 
it from a large pen. At its far end a 
platform sloped down, and this platform 
246 


Good-hj to the Ranch of Circle R 


led, in turn, to the open range. For half 
a day the sheep were forced by twos and 
threes into the chute, and so into the vat. 
Once in, they were obliged to swim 
through. They emerged badly frightened 
and a bilious yellow from backs to hoofs. 
This was to prevent scab,” and it was 
effectual. It was fun also, and Donald 
distinguished himself by falling in, ruin- 
ing his clothing, but luckily keeping his 
eyes tightly shut. The worst feature of 
it was that for some time afterward he 
had to bear in silence Ralph’s many refer- 
ences to the fact that Donald was now 
surely “ germ-proof.” 

Early in April their visit came to an 
end. Mrs. Downing kissed them repeat- 
edly and tearfully, and sent a hundred 
loving messages to her sister. Their 
faces were pale and grave. They had 
told their horses good-by the night be- 
fore, and Donald had broken down com- 
pletely. All of the cow-hands and J ocosa 
247 ■ 


The Boys of the Rincon Ranch 

and her maidens gathered to see them 
depart and ask in their liquid patois that 
the good God would bless them with a 
safe and speedy journey. At the last 
moment Juan broke from his mother’s 
side, and, rushing up, begged with won- 
derful fluency that he might be taken 
along. Harry, with a smile, picked him 
up and tossed him into the wagon. 

At noon next day they stood upon the 
little platform at Cotulla. They could 
see the locomotive smoke above the ten- 
der green of the mesquits, and in a little 
while the engine snorted to a standstill. It 
was a one-minute stop, and the brothers 
clambered on board. The three cousins 
shook hands convulsively through a win- 
dow. Down Juan’s cheeks tears were roll- 
ing. Donald reached out and threw an 
arm about his neck. For a moment the 
black and brown heads touched. 

“ Sehor Don ! Senor Don ! ” the little 
fellow sobbed. 

The scream of the whistle wavered on 
248 


Good-bjr to the Ranch of Circle R’' 


the soft air, there was a grind of wheels, 
and the youth and the child on the plat- 
form looked at each other sadly as the 
train moved away. 


249 






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